Faith
by RGfI
Summary: 'Sometimes it's easier to stay away rather than to jump into the depth, because as wonderful as it might be, it's still walking in the dark.' Will and Alicia love each other and make each other happy, but to reach full and deep trust... That's a journey of a lifetime. This is the story of Will and Alicia at Georgetown.
1. June, 1991

Disclaimer: I don't own Will, Alicia or any other cannon mentioned here. I did invent the OCs in this story for this story :) I mentioned here briefly the great book Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, and I recommend it; it changed my point of view!

Hi everyone! Oh my god, I don't think I can describe to you how excited I am that I can finally publish this story. I had the script in my head for so long, it's nice to finally be able to do something with it!

Okay, so this is how this story is going to go-

Every chapter will describe the near events that occur in the written date, starting from Will and Alicia's first year in Georgetown law, and ending in whatever! This is a happy AU story where Peter and Alicia do not, and I repeat, do not get married. Which I am only thrilled about :)))

Also, every chapter will be exactly six months after the previous one, so if there are sudden changes in the plot, that is why. You are more than invited to fill the gap with your own imagination, I'll still try for the story to make sense to everyone.

Also, you can ask me to explain what happened in the gap, and I promise to try and integrate the explanation with the plot.

Okay, here we go :)

* * *

**Part one: Honeymoon**

**June 10th, 1991**

While looking at her closet, Alicia Cavanaugh tossed the sunglasses to her bed. She won't need that on a midnight pool-party.

Generally she found the idea of a midnight pool-party stupid; who wants to get into a pool in the middle of the night?

But it was an orientation, and everyone was going, and her roommate Bella was making her to come.

"Come on, Alicia, let's go!" Bella opened her door and walked in, standing at the entrance of the room, wearing a short pink pool-dress with red sunglasses up in her blond wavy hair. Maybe Bella decided there was a use for sunglasses, Alicia thought as she stuffed her sunglasses into her bag.

She then rolled her eyes at her friend and smiled. "I'm almost ready. You could have walk in on me getting dressed, you know."

"Oh! I'm glad I didn't, though. No offence," Bella smiled teasingly.

Alicia laughed. "None-taken. How do I look?" She asked her friend, who looked at her attire, a red pool dress over a black swimsuit, attentively.

"You look great... The dress is cute... Oh hell no!" She playfully scolded her and looked at her curly hair, which was pulled up and gathered in an elastic hair band. She then pulled Alicia's elastic hair band from her hair, "No, you are letting this happy mess go wild," she grinned at Alicia playfully.

Alicia laughed and tried to reach for the elastic hair band. "Give it back!"

"No honey," Bella hummed, smiling at Alicia's black, wild curls. "This hair is born to be wild!"

* * *

As they reached the pool where the party took place Bella disappeared with some random guy. That was the downside with Alicia's funny new roommate, Isabella Polly, or as she demanded everyone to call her, Bella; she was awfully flirty.

Alicia looked around. There were around 100 freshmen, 40 out of them inside the big square pool, enjoying the cool water on this hot August night, while 60 others stood around the pool, chatting and eating snacks from scattered tables around the pool area. As she walked slowly to one of those tables on a white-tiled path, three guys moved pass her, running, and one of them rubbed her hand while he ran. He turned around to apologize, and meanwhile his two friends jumped into the pool, drawing a lot of attention and getting everyone around them wet.

"I'm sorry, I gotta top that," the guy who rubbed her arm smiled, and Alicia didn't even have the time to answer before he sprinted to the pool and jumped a cannon-ball jump, one that got absolutely everyone in the pool wet and even some people who stood outside the pool. They all stared at him before he emerged from the water, laughing hysterically; they then joined him, even applauding him. He bowed his head down, grinning, and they all laughed even harder, and clapped their hands. Alicia allowed herself to look at him attentively since 70 other people gazed at him aswell, and frankly, he was quite nice to look at. He was tall, had a few muscles and had this good looking face of a teaser and a joker that teachers always hate, but when he returned her gaze, smiling at her directly, she looked away, shyly, her smile still on her face.

* * *

She got sick of small talks with random people, so she found a pool chair under some light and sat down to read a book. Reading was a big part of her life; at the moment she read Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen again. Suddenly, she felt water dripping on her shoulder, and when she looked up she recognized the smiling face of the cannon-ball jumper. "I think you are probably the first person I met that reads in a pool party," he smiled.

Alicia smiled nervously. "The water is too cold for me."

He moved his dripping towel on to one of his shoulders and grinned at her. "Right. I'm Will, by the way. Will Gardner."

"Hi," she smiled. "I'm Alicia Cavanaugh. That was a nice cannon-ball by the way," she smiled.

Will looked amused. "Really? You liked it?"

"Well, I didn't get wet by it, so there was nothing not to like," Alicia smiled.

Will laughed. "I like the way you think, Alicia," he smiled and she grinned from the compliment. "And I do hope you'll get in to the water sometime, it's really not that cold."

Alicia smiled at him. "I'll think about it."

Will grinned. "Great. Look up for me!" He smiled and sprinted to the pool. He then did another cannon-ball, and this time looked at her directly when emerging from the water, winking. Alicia laughed.

* * *

Alicia didn't get into the pool that day, but she did watch Will Gardner running around the pool pushing people in and being pushed by all those people back. He kept laughing the whole time, and every once in a while he looked at her direction, checking to see if she was laughing, or to smile a small smile her way which, she thought, was very nice of him. One of those times Will looked at her, one of his friends took advantage of the fact that he was distracted and pushed him into the water. Alicia laughed, hard, and so did Will who pulled his friend with him.

"Alicia!" Bella ran to her, dragging some guy with her. "Alicia, this is Ben. Ben, say hi to Alicia," Bella grinned.

"Hi," he smiled and moved some of his blond wet hair from his eyes, while putting on glasses. Alicia recognized him as one of the guys who ran into the pool with Will at the beginning of the party.

"Hi," she smiled back at another guy, the third guy that jumped with Will approached them.

"Ben!" He called, amused. "Already putting those glasses back? You're getting into the water few seconds from now, buddy!" The guy gloated. "I'm Jeff, by the way, ladies," he smiled at Alicia and Bella. "How about you? Want to get into the water? Blondie?" he addressed Bella, grinning, his shoulder-long brown hair dripping on his muscular chest.

Bella gave him a long look. "It's Bella, for you."

"Blondie it is," he hummed. She frowned. "So, what do you say, blondie? Want to be pushed into the water?"

Bella smiled a sarcastic smile. "Wow! That sounds great! I think I'll pass though."

"You sure?" Jeff grinned and Alicia secretly started to wish for Will to come; two of his friends were here, it was to be expected. "The water is great," Jeff tried again and suddenly a hand appeared on his shoulder and Alicia's heart did a little jump as she noticed Will. He didn't notice her yet, though.

"Where have you guys been?" He asked his friends, a bit annoyed.

"Here," Ben smiled.

"It's not as if you were alone there, we saw you with all those girls," Jeff smirked and Will rolled his eyes.

"They were annoying, all needy and -" he said, and it was then that he noticed Alicia, and if it was possible (and she doubted it), she thought he blushed. "Oh, Alicia, ummm... Hi," he smiled nervously.

"Hi," she grinned, amused.

"I was just joking," he laughed nervously.

"No he wasn't!" Ben smiled.

"Nope, girls are all over Will all the time," Jeff smirked. Will rolled his eyes, Alicia smiled, amused, while Bella looked at the scene, interested. "As I was saying, Blondie," Jeff made a sudden change in the conversation."Come into the water. It's not that cold."

Bella smiled. "I'll come if you'll swear to never call me Blondie ever again."

Jeff nodded. "Sure thing... Blondie." Bella rolled her eyes at him, hiding her smile.

"Bella, I'm going to head back, though," Alicia said and Will suddenly looked up and looked unpleased. Disappointed, maybe?

Bella turned to her. "You're heading back?"

Alicia nodded. "Yeah... I'm a bit tired. Have fun, though."

"Bye," Bella smiled at her and hugged her shortly, before Jeff turned to her.

"Come on, let's go to the pool. I'll race you," he smiled.

She arched her eyebrow. "Oh, you're on," she smiled as they sprinted to the pool, jumping together.

Ben touched Will's arm. "You coming?"

Will nodded. "Yeah. Just a sec," he said and Ben nodded and started to walk after Bella and Jeff.

Alicia turned to smile at Will, brightly, though he seemed very nervous and kept looking at his feet. "So you sure you don't feel like staying?" He asked tentatively and looked up.

For a second, she was tempted to say yes. But... "No... I'm kind of tired."

"Sure, I heard reading in a pool party does that to you," he smirked.

She laughed. "What can I say? I'm special."

Will smiled. "You do seem special."

Alicia smiled at him and for a few seconds they just looked at each other, in a bit of a tentative way, but it was hard for them to look away; Alicia then smiled. "Good night, Will."

"Good night, Alicia," he smiled as she turned around and started to walk away, enjoying the fact that he is probably looking at her walking away.

* * *

Alicia got up at 10 am the morning after the party, and it was quite late for her. Bella was obviously still asleep, but was at the apartment from the look of her bag and shoes thrown all over their little black couch. Alicia chuckled a bit when she saw it, and organized her shoes neatly at the foot of the couch. She was making breakfast when Bella walked out of her room, wearing a red robe, her hair a mess. "Good morning!" Alicia smiled brightly at her.

Bella gave in return an annoyed look. "There are no good mornings. I thought we already discussed it."

Alicia smiled at her. "I'm sorry, I'm a morning person."

"Ugh. What am I doing in this place?!" Bella growled as she walked into the bathroom and slammed the door.

10 minutes later she walked out of the bathroom, dressed, her hair pulled up in a bun.

"How was it last night?" Alicia asked Bella with a smile while she cooked omelets.

Bella pulled out from their cabinet two plates, two cups and orange juice from the refrigerator. "It was a lot of fun. That Jeff guy? Sure is nice."

Alicia chuckled. "Yes, I saw it last night, he was totally into you."

Bella smiled and nodded. "Oh, and Will, the, ummm... The guy that kept pushing people into the pool?" Bella started and Alicia's heart started to race.

"What about him?" Alicia asked slowly, her heart beating fast.

"He asked about you," Bella smiled at her.

Alicia was afraid to turn around because she didn't want Bella to see the look on her face, so she pretended she was still busy making the omelets. "What did he ask?"

Bella grinned. "If you're seeing anyone, I think. I said that not to my knowledge," Bella said and Alicia stepped towards her to serve the omelets to the table. "Will Gardner, Alicia? Nice," Bella smiled and tapped her shoulder.

Alicia blushed. "I didn't do anything."

"Yet," Bella grinned as they sat to eat. "You know, if you'll date Will Gardner every girl on campus will hate you."

"Will you still like me?" Alicia asked with a smile.

Bella smiled. "Of course. You give me food!" She said with her mouth filled with omelet.

* * *

Let me know what you think!


	2. December, 1991

Disclaimer: The characters are as always not mine, except for my OCs, and in this chapter I used some data from an quite interesting article, A GENERATIONAL SHIFT FOR FEDERAL DRUG SENTENCES* Honorable Patti B. Saris—Chair, United States Sentencing Commission, Chief United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, and also from Wikipedia, since I know nothing about this subject, but it worked well with the dates so it fitted the story well.

* * *

**December 27th, 1991**

Alicia's eyes opened up in horror. "The test!" She remembered in a scared whisper.

She jumped out of her bed and ran to her bathroom, and while brushing her teeth she threw a shoe at Bella's door, so she'll wake up. "The test is in two days!" She yelled. There was no answer, so she threw another shoe at her door. "Wake up, Bella!" She yelled again, and 2 minutes later Bella walked out of her room, and if a look could kill, Alicia would be dead.

"The test can go into my -"

"Bella," Alicia smiled, stopping her from swearing.

"Good god, Alicia," Bella groaned.

* * *

"Now this is the only fun part this awful morning has to offer," Bella grinned, a bit gloating.

Alicia smiled. "If it wasn't necessary..."

"Oh, but it is, it's very necessary," Bella grinned.

"Fine, but do you really need 5 alarm clocks?" Alicia chuckled, "they will hate us."

"No no, don't worry," Bella grinned. "This is just for Jeff."

"Right," Alicia chuckled.

"Yeah, you go wake up Will however you like, I... My boyfriend deserves this," Bella explained, grinning.

"Right," Alicia said again, laughing.

"Oh, and I would close the door if I were you, things can get pretty loud," Bella grinned widely.

Alicia grinned as she looked for the guys apartment key in her bag. "Well, thanks for all the great advice," she chuckled as she unlocked the door.

"You are totally and completely welcome," Bella grinned playfully and made her way to her boyfriend's room as the loud noise of 5 alarm clocks was heard in the apartment. Alicia laughed and walked into Will's room and closed the door behind her. She always liked Will's room; it was well decorated. He had at least 20 pictures which were hanged on the wall or placed on the dresser; pictures of him as a little kid and with his family, and even 2 he took with Alicia and one he took with all their group of friends. The pictures made the room look homey, and his sheets always had a nice smell of soap, and ever since Alicia started to hang out in his room more often his things started to be more organized, such as his shoes and bags. Will was half awake, probably from Bella's alarms clocks.

"Leesh?" He asked, confused.

"Good morning," she smiled sweetly at him.

He blinked. "What is all this noise?" He asked, since Bella's alarms clocks were still on.

Alicia chuckled. "Bella decided to wake Jeff up using 5 alarm clocks."

"I never understood these two," Will muttered as he stretched his arms.

Alicia laughed. "Neither did I."

"What time is it?" He asked, a bit hoarse, and Alicia took in just for a second the image of him this morning, looking really cute with the big, puffy, blue blanket, covering all his body except of his messy-haired head which popped out of the blanket and gave her a very sad puppy dog look of someone who didn't want to wake up.

"8 am," she smiled.

Will grimaced. "So why do we need to wake up at 8 am, again?"

"Because there is a test in two days from now and we have to practice! Wake up!" She smiled, urging him.

Will buried his head in his pillow, so she pulled the pillow away and started to hit him with it, laughing. "Fine. Fine! I'm up," he sighed and got out of the bed. "I swear, if you were anyone else -"

"Yeah, you love me alright," she laughed and he smirked at her. "I'm gonna go make you coffee, grumpy face," she grinned widely at him and threw the pillow at him.

He caught the pillow and laughed as she stepped out of the room. She closed the door behind her as he went to brush his teeth and get dressed to an early study.

* * *

She made him some coffee as he stepped out of his room, wearing wool socks, jeans and a black shirt that said 'I'm not a morning person'. His hair was still messy, and he told Alicia once that he prefers his hair that way; it saves him the trouble of organizing it.

"The shirt is some kind of message," Will grinned at her and she laughed.

When he approached the kitchen Alicia grinned at him and handed him a cup of coffee.

"You are my hero, Leesh," he sighed in appreciation as he took a sip from the hot, steamy liquid.

"I don't know if I am," she smiled, "keep in mind that I am the one who is forcing you to wake up this early."

"To study for a test," he reminded her with a tired, yet admiring smile.

"We need to become lawyers, right?" She smiled and he grinned warmly at her.

She grabbed two bowls and two spoons from the kitchen cabinet and he grabbed their cereal box and a carton of milk. They sat down to eat on the kitchen table and Will turned to her. "So how are you? Nervous?"

"Oh, you have no idea," she chuckled nervously. "So much that I literally feel like we're wasting time right now by eating instead of studying."

"Well, we could," he smiled, "but I don't think our friends will join us soon," he smiled as he gestured with his head to the loud laughing noises that came from Jeff's closed room door.

"Yeah, well there's always Ben," Alicia smiled and Will nodded.

"True, he always shows up eventually," Will smirked.

"Oh, how's your sister doing?" Alicia asked softly and Will's smile turned into a worried frown. Few days earlier Will receive a phone call from his older sister, Sara, about his younger sister Aubrey who was hospitalized due to bad Pneumonia.

"My mother called and... And said she feels better," Will smiled a small smile.

Alicia grinned. "That's great!"

"It is," Will smiled, "my sister is annoying, but I want her to breathe okay," he grinned.

"That's very nice of you," Alicia laughed and Will nodded, grinning.

The front door opened and Ben walked in, rubbing his eyes and looking very tired.

"Good morning!" Alicia greeted him brightly.

"Morning," he yawned. "Coffee? Coffee?" He asked and Will and Alicia laughed. "Coffee!" He noticed Will's cup on the table and snatched it before Will had the chance to protest.

"That's mine!" Will complained and smacked Ben's arm.

Ben shrugged. "Oops?"

Alicia laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make you another cup."

Will grinned gratefully at her. "Thank you so much, Alicia," he smiled and gave her a long look as she walked away.

5 minutes later Will had another cup and textbooks were spread all over the table.

Alicia rubbed her hands. "Okay, so Federal drug sentences."

Will raised his eyes from his notebook. "The laws for it were put recently... Some say due to high profile tragedies, like the cocaine overdose of Len Bias, from the Celtics."

"Right," Alicia nodded. "So what was done about it?"

"The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986?" Will asked and when she nodded he smiled at her. "Can you give me a longer description to this law?"

Alicia nodded. "An Act to strengthen Federal efforts to... To encourage foreign cooperation in eradicating illicit drug crops and in order to halting international drug traffic, and..."

"And to improve enforcement of Federal drug laws and enhance interdiction of illicit drug shipments," Ben helped her, smiling.

"And also, to provide strong Federal leadership in establishing effective drug abuse prevention and education programs," she smiled, encouraged.

"And so on," Will smiled tiredly and Alicia chuckled.

Jeff and Bella's door opened. "You're not studying without us, I hope," Jeff smiled as he stepped out of the room with Bella, hugging her shoulders.

"It's quieter that way," Will said and Alicia and Ben smiled.

"Ah! But way less interesting," Bella smiled and Jeff nodded.

Will chuckled. "Let's agree to disagree."

"Oh, hey! Coffee!" Jeff noticed Will's cup on the table and grabbed it, drinking from it immediately.

Will groaned. "Dammit! I hate you guys!" Everyone except Will chuckled and Will rolled his eyes. "I have awful friends, did you know?" He turned to Alicia who laughed.

"I can make you another cup if you really want," Alicia chuckled.

Will sighed. "No, it's okay. I don't see why you'll need to make three cups of coffee just 'cause I have awful friends who keep stealing it," he frowned and she smiled, amused. "See? I like her," Will said to his friends and gestured his head to Alicia, "she helps me and do stuff like making me coffee and you just annoy me by doing stuff like drinking it," Will muttered, annoyed, and Alicia and the rest laughed, Alicia grinning brightly, her heart beating a bit fast from the compliment.

Ben shook his head, straightening his glasses. "Will, you would have liked her even if she'd drink all your coffee."

Jeff and Bella laughed, Alicia blushed a bit and suddenly focused intensely on the textbook in front of her; and even Will seemed a bit nervous from the comment.

"True," he smiled, a bit sheepishly, "but it's only because she is one of my favorite people," he declared and Alicia smiled a bit as she straightened her gaze at the textbook. "You two, on the other hand," Will turned to look at Ben and Jeff, "are two of my least favorite people. In fact, I kind of hate you two," Will grinned.

"Back at you, Gardner," Jeff grinned and raised Will's cup. "Cheers," he grinned.

Everyone laughed again, and even Will couldn't stop a small smile. "Go to hell," he rolled his eyes, smiling unintentionally.

* * *

5 hours later all the cheeriness and the glee was long long gone.

"I can't. I just can't study anymore!" Jeff pushed the textbook away from him and groaned, frustrated.

"Come on! We have only 20 more pages till the end of this chapter!" Alicia tried to convince him.

Jeff threw himself on the couch. "We all adore you, Alicia," Jeff muttered, "but it's been 5 hours, and I've been holding myself for 3."

"Maybe it is a bit too much, Alicia," Bella said suddenly and stood up from the table, "and it's true, he did held himself for at least 3 hours," she said and got up to sit next to him on the couch. She started to stroke his head, "I saw how hard it was for you."

Will gazed up from the textbook. "Come on you guys, let's just finish the chapter," he encouraged them even though he seemed almost as tired as they seemed.

Ben cleared his glasses. "We're almost done."

Jeff shook his head. "Nope, sorry, I can't. I need a break."

Will shrugged. "Let's just continue without them, then."

Alicia closed the textbook in front of her in a slam. "No, it's okay. If they want a break, that's fine. Lets... Have lunch or something," she tried to say this as calmly as she could, but Will noticed how upset she really was.

"Fine," Ben said and closed his textbook as well. "Are you all up for a pizza?"

He was answered with shrugs and took it as a yes and called to order some pizza.

While eating, Jeff, Bella, Will and Ben sat in the living room while Alicia stayed in the kitchen and ate there alone. She organized the textbooks and the notebooks while eating, her face a bit upset. At some point Will cleared his plate to the sink and sat near her on the table.

"Are you upset?" He asked her quietly and she looked up at him.

She smiled an unhappy smile. "I don't think I'm upset... Disappointed maybe. I really wanted to finish the textbook before the test, I really think it's important," she grimaced. "In fact, they should be upset too. They don't even care we didn't finish practicing the textbook!"

Will smiled fondly at her. "Well, maybe they don't feel like they need to practice the whole textbook in order to be ready for the test."

She sighed. "Maybe. I do need to practice it, though, so if they're not up to it, I'll study it by myself, I don't mind," she said and seemed a bit tired.

"I'll study with you," Will declared with a smile, and Alicia grinned at him, surprised.

"But we have 7 more chapters to go," she mumbled softly, grinned at him.

"We'll need a lot of coffee then," he grinned at her and she laughed. "And hopefully if we will both practice together without the rest no one will steal it," he smiled and she chuckled.

"Tomorrow, then?" Alicia asked him, smiling brightly at him.

"Yup, tomorrow. How many chapters did we practice already?" He asked and she pulled the textbook to her and checked.

"4," she counted and he nodded.

"We'll do it better in two," he smiled and she nodded, grinning.

"Hopefully," she smiled. "Thank you for agreeing to do this, Will."

He smiled. "Hey... What are friends for?" He smiled as she hugged him, her heart beating fast.

* * *

"I'm sorry Alicia, I'm out for today," Jeff declared.

Alicia smiled to Will's general direction. "It's okay. I don't see any reason to continue to study today. In fact, we don't really need to meet up as a group tomorrow, we can study by ourselves."

"Fine by me," Jeff shrugged.

"And by me," Ben said as he stood up. "I'm going to go now, I have a date."

"Bye man," Will patted his back and Jeff raised his hand lazily in a wave. Alicia and Bella smiled at him as he stepped out of the apartment.

Few minutes after Ben's exit Bella and Jeff got up, holding hands, and disappeared in Jeff's room.

When they were left alone, Alicia turned to Will, smiling. "So... What do you feel like doing?"

Will seemed thoughtful for a second. "I say we finish those 20 pages."

"Really?" Alicia asked with a wide grin, "It's exactly what I wanted to do. Let's do it then," she smiled as she stepped closer to the kitchen table, but Will touched her arm and smiled at her. "What?" She asked him, grinning softly.

"I say, let's do it in the park," he smiled and she examined him, smiling.

"In the park?" She asked.

"Yes! It's beautiful and it's kind of warm today. It'll be fun to study there!" He smiled.

She thought about it for a second before their gazes met, and her heart warmed at the sight of his enthusiastic smile, so much that an equal smile appeared on her face. "Let's do it," she smiled.

* * *

It was a nice day for a walk in the park. It rained the day before, so all the plants seemed cleaner and greener. It was a bit chilly, so he insisted to give her his coat, even though she smiled and showed him that she had her own jacket.

They walked pretty close to each other, and the cold weather helped them to justify the closeness; but they didn't touch each other just yet, even though they both secretly wanted to; they just weren't there in the relationship yet.

They walked near many trees and fenced gardens, and every once in a while Alicia stopped the walking pace in order to admire a pretty flower or a bush that smelled really good. Will would smile at her comments and say nothing, simply because he didn't have much to add. She noticed and mentioned a lot of stuff he didn't even notice, and she helped him appreciate the great look of a little flower or the great smell of a fragrant bush, even though he never really knew he could appreciate this kind of stuff. This little change made him feel amazingly happy.

"Isn't this one beautiful?" She asked him, smiling, and showed him a little purple flower that grew nearby a big tree.

He smiled at her excitement. "It is." She ducked again, this time to look at some bush. "I never knew you were that into plants!" Will smiled.

She straightened up and grinned at him. "Well, I am. They're just so weird! Completely different than people and animals. It's quite fascinating to see," she grinned, and he smiled warmly at her and said nothing, simply because he had no answer for this sweet comment. Instead, he picked up a small, nice, red flower, and offered it to her, grinning.

She accepted it, beaming, and he pulled the flower softly from her grip and put it softly in her hair. When he looked at her he wanted to kiss her desperately, she looked so beautiful to him; grinning up at him, her eyes locked on his in a fond expression, her face a little nervous, but in a way he thought was adorable; as if she was nervous, but very excited.

"You look beautiful," he smiled softly at her, and she grinned up at him. He examined her, and wondered whether she wanted him to kiss her, his heart beating fast. He decided to go for it, and leaned in softly; and when his lips touched hers, life seemed brighter. As he leaned in he pulled her softly to him and kissed her softly, giving her a chance to pull away if it was not what she wanted; but instead of pulling away she pulled him closer, kissing him more deeply; 6 months of sexual tension melted into one great passionate kiss. With the chilly wind and the nice park, the kiss seemed perfect to them; so much that they didn't want to pull away.

But life, or maybe it was bad timing, stood in their way.

"Will!" A girl from one of his classes recognized him and called him.

Will and Alicia stepped away from each other, disappointed and a little bit embarrassed, and Will turned around to look at the girl. He recognized her as a girl he copied some notes from, so he couldn't be rude, but frankly, he wasn't too happy with her either.

"Hi," he forced a smile.

The girl examined their blushed faces for a second, before a big, fake smile appeared on her face. "Is that your famous girlfriend?" She asked him and turned to Alicia. "I swear, you are the most famous girl on campus, just by dating him," the girl said to her and Alicia pursed her lips in return.

"We're not dating," Will muttered quietly, and thought bitterly that this sentence was still true, thanks to this random girl.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She smiled. "So what's with all the kissing?"

When Will noticed a hint of accusation in her tone he became really pissed. This girl was not only disturbing them, but also acted like he owed her something? Hell, he can copy notes from other people in the class. "We're going to go now," he told the girl and stepped away. Alicia followed him, amused at the girl's facial expression; she seemed disappointed, even though it was quite obvious that Will never liked her.

"I'm famous?" Alicia asked Will while they sat down on a bench.

Will shrugged. "Maybe. I never really understood girls' logic."

Alicia chuckled. "Funny. Neither did I." While they sat together on the bench Alicia pulled out the textbook from her bag. "Okay, 20 more pages to go."

* * *

**December 28th, 1991**

Alicia's eyes opened up in horror; just like the day before.

But this time, a small smile appeared on her face as well when she remembered the fact that she was going to study with Will today. She never liked any guy the way she liked Will, and no one ever made her feel so good about herself. It was quite scary at times, actually, she didn't manage to get him out of her head.

Bella probably stayed at Jeff's, because the apartment was empty; but it was a good thing, because when she planned to go to Will's place, wearing jeans and a warm shirt, a soft knock was heard. She opened the door and smiled at him, inviting him to come in.

He smiled brightly at her. "Good morning! I noticed Bella in our place, so I figured it will be better to study here today."

She nodded, grinning. "Sounds good. Come on in then."

* * *

They studied hard, but they studied well together, both admired the way the other one studied; Will was a fast catcher, and was able to memorize big long paragraphs in ways she only wished she could, but Alicia understood the material so greatly that she was able to explain him what some stuff meant and not just to herself.

They barely had a lunch break, and even while eating they continued to study; this is how much fun they had. Around 5 pm they had two more chapters to go, and before they managed to start the door opened, Ben walked in. "Hey," he smiled, "I figured you guys will be here. Do you have any place for me?"

Will turned to question Alicia, who smiled warmly. "Sure, but keep in mind that we only have two more chapters."

"Better than nothing," Ben smiled and joined them.

* * *

They were done around 7 pm.

"We finished the book!" Alicia said, stunned.

Will smirked, satisfied. "Did you have any doubt?"

"Yes!" Alicia laughed. "I had many doubts!"

"Well, from now on don't doubt team-work," Ben grinned.

"But Ben, what are you going to do about the 5 chapters we studied without you?" Alicia asked him.

"Don't worry, I studied 3 out of them by myself. I'll do the same with the two others; but I came here because I didn't like learning alone; truth is I needed to study with you, you are the most responsible person I know," Ben smiled at her and Alicia grinned, happy with the compliment.

"Thanks Ben," Alicia smiled and Will grinned at her.

"See? People really want to study with you," Will smiled at her and squeezed her hand. She smiled at him gratefully.

"Well, you guys want to get something to eat? I'm starving," Ben said and Alicia and Will nodded.

"We should probably call the two love-birds to join," Alicia smiled.

"Let's go then," Will grinned.

* * *

The next morning their little group met in a coffee shop.

Jeff and Bella did some last minutes studies for the test, but Alicia refused to look at the textbook or to answer questions, because she said it was not good to study in the morning of a test.

"Well, that would have been helpful to know sooner," Jeff muttered bitterly.

"You could have study with us yesterday," Alicia said quietly.

"I didn't know there was an 'us' yesterday! Didn't we say everyone studies alone yesterday?" Jeff snapped.

"I'm sure it didn't stop you from practicing with Bella. Besides, Ben didn't know we decided to study together, and he still came," Alicia answered.

"Well -" Jeff started but Will interrupted him.

"Jeff, just 'cause you messed up yesterday and didn't practice well, doesn't mean Alicia should take the blame. Let's face it, Alicia helped all of us a lot this past few days, probably more than anyone," Will said, a bit irritated.

"Then why can't she help me and answer my questions?!" Jeff was angry and so was Alicia, who got up.

"I'm out of here. I owe you nothing," she said, upset, as she threw five dollars on the table for her coffee, and left the coffee shop.

Everyone seemed uncomfortable by her exit, and few minutes afterwards Will got up, sending Jeff an annoyed gaze. "You asshole," he muttered as he threw a five-dollar bill at the table as well, and left the coffee house after Alicia.

As he went out he noticed her leaning on the wall near the coffee house, an upset facial expression on her face, which didn't match her usually-cheerful face.

"Alicia," he called her softly and she looked up at him, her frown fading a bit as she noticed him. "He can really be a son of a bitch sometimes," Will said, frowning himself.

Alicia looked away. "I don't really care about him."

"Then what is it?" He asked her, confused.

"The test," she muttered, "I really want to do good in it... I..." She started to mumble, obviously upset.

"You are overwhelmed right now," he said and stroked her arm, "but I promise you you'll do great on the test. You are the smartest person I know!"

Alicia smiled softly, her face much more calm. "Thank you, Will."

"No problem. Come here," he smiled as he pulled her closer to him for a hug. She stood on her toes to plant a warm kiss on his cheek before she hugged him.

"You are the best," she whispered softly into his ear as he smiled and stroked her back.


	3. June, 1992

Disclaimer: I own nothing, except of my OCs; the rest is credited to the writers of the good wife.

This chapter is dedicated to Yarden, who kindly enough offered to help me type it in, and didn't give up on it until I forced her to. No human being should deal with the awfulness of typing in my writing, that is except me of course, I desreve it. I brought it on myself :)

Every single moment of Owen in this chapter is dedicated to Marsel.

And also, this chapter is dedicated to Yael as well, hopefuly it will cheer her up, since she is like the rest of us upset from Kalinda's exit.

* * *

**June 26th, 1992**

Alicia looked out of the window, upset. The beautiful sight of long, thick layers of dozens of gray shaded clouds didn't cheer her up; she usually loved those kind of sights, but not today. Not when she was headed... To where she was headed.

The plane took off half an hour before, and resting or staring into space did not help her to lighten up the mood. If Will would not have come with her, she would have gone mad.

She turned to give him a soft look; her official boyfriend for the past 3 months.

He was napping in the chair near her, his good looking face calm; the smile appeared on her face unintentionally.

He was always so damn thoughtful; more than anyone else in her life... Except for her dad maybe.

As the thought of her dad hit her, she felt a pinch in her heart; she missed her dad so much.

But having Will was a big comfort; he did anything he could to make her happy, and having someone like that in her life was astonishing. He insisted on coming with her to the wedding when he found out how upset she was by it; he insisted on staying at her dad's house when he heard how much she wanted to; and if all that wasn't enough he insisted that she sat on the chair by the window when they saw the weird guy that snored in the place near them.

Alicia looked at him and smiled softly. He looked so calm; his eyes were closed and he was breathing from his nose softly, his brows a bit shrunk in a little frown. She stroked his cheek and kissed it softly, and her heart warmed up at the sight of a little smile spreading on his face from her touch. It was one of this moments when she truly felt in love with him; she wanted to kiss him again but she held herself since she didn't want him to wake up. She pulled out a little plane blanket and covered him softly so he would be warm. He moved in his sit, and snuggled into the blanket.

Half an hour later she was still staring out the window, looking at small towns and villages and picturing the people who might live there. She was in deep thought when he woke up; at the sounds of him stretching she turned around, grinning. "Good morning!"

"Hi," he smiled. "Did I miss something?"

"Some clouds an about an hour of snoring from the guy near you," she chuckled.

"I'm sorry I missed it," Will smiled. "Though it doesn't seem as if the guy has any intention to stop, so I guess I didn't miss it," Will smiled and his smile faded a bit when he looked at her closer. "Leesh… What's wrong?"

She forced a smile, but in her heart knew he won't be fooled by it. "What do you mean? I'm fine."

Will reached out to stroke her arm. "Come on... I can see something is up. Just tell me."

"It's... It's about the wedding," she muttered and scanned his face for his reaction. When he just gave her an encouraging look she sighed. "I know I should be happy for my mom, but my dad is... He is quite upset about the wedding, and the divorce in general, and... And basically by everything when it comes to her," she chuckled sadly and Will leaned in closer to her. "I… He is always so, so... Sad by it. It has been 4 years… And he is still not moving on. My mom is moving on too fast. I remember…" Alicia started and then stopped, closing her eyes, a pained expression on her face.

Will grabbed her hand and started to stroke it gently, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, he stroked her cheek and gently said: "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I would love to hear it if you do, but if it makes you uncomfortable to talk about it..." He trailed off.

She inhaled deeply. "When they announced separation… I was 17. I… They never really told me what happened there. My brother, Owen… he was 14. I really wanted to make sure he didn't get hurt by it more than he already got hurt… But he overheard one of their fights, over the house, I think," she said, her eyes glassy. "And the fight made our mother decide she was sick of it all. She moved out. She didn't want the house, and to celebrate this happy turn of events in her life she flew to France that day and stayed there for 4 months. She left my father heartbroken and my brother shocked, and confused and... Sad, because his mom left him. His mom didn't care enough to stay and explain the situation to him. She left me in charge of both of them. And I would make dinners..." She smiled bitterly as Will continued to stroke her hand. "My dad would stay at the office late every evening, so most nights it was just me and Owen," Alicia said while tears started to form in her eyes. Will looked concerned; He didn't know how to cheer his girlfriend up. "Owen and I would talk every day. Since his mom was off in god knows where and his dad came home only to sleep, if he didn't even do that in his office, he didn't have anyone to talk to at his most critical teenage years; 14,15,16… He is 17 now and I'm not there for him! I… I'm an awful person," she broke down and started crying.

Will's eyes widened. "What?! No! Leesh... I've never heard such generous behavior before. You're amazing," he said softly, and continued to stroke her hand, kissing it softly.

"He came out of the closet to me first. He told me, crying, and he wanted my help in how to tell our dad. I hugged him, and told him everything will be okay… And it was… Sort of. My dad took it okay…" She cried quietly and Will continued to listen to her, not taking his gaze away from her. "I really love my dad, Will... I don't like how hurt he is," Alicia cried and Will pulled her to him and hugged her and she cried on his shoulder. This was the first time they talked so openly; on one hand Will was happy that she was opening up; on the other, he hated seeing her so sad. She pulled away and wiped her teary eyes with some tissues she pulled from her bag. he looked at her, a soft, concerned look on his face. Seeing his concerned gaze, she felt warmth washing in her chest. "Thank you, for, for coming with me, Will. I really appreciate it. I'm glad I won't be alone there," she laughed and cleaned her teary face with the tissue.

"Hey," he smiled. "You tell me you need me, no matter why, no matter when, and I'll be there. I'll always be there for you," he stated, kissing her softly.

* * *

The plane landed and they went out of it to get their luggage. Alicia, who told her brother to meet them at the airport, turned happier. "You'll love my brother. _I_ love him way too much. He is so funny, and he is a little genius, someday he'll be a professor for statistics or something," Alicia grinned.

"He sounds great," Will smiled nervously. Alicia looked at him, confused.

"What is it, Will?" Alicia asked him.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing. I... He is your brother, I don't... Nothing."

Alicia chuckled, smiling fondly at his concern. "Don't be silly! Leave the silliness to Owen, that's his thing," she chuckled as she grabbed her suitcase. Will grabbed his suitcase as well, and as he turned around back to Alicia he witnessed some guy jumping on her. Will and Alicia were startled by the sudden encounter, and Will was ready to hit the attacker when he heard Alicia laughing and saw her hugging the attacker.

While trying to catch his breath, he stepped closer to the two in order to meet Alicia's brother. "Don't you ever do that again!" She laughed and hugged her brother.

"Then don't disappear for five months without visiting! Up until last year I was used to seeing your annoying face every morning, and now you don't even call me," he complained with a smile as she laughed and smacked his arm softly.

"Ouch," he grinned teasingly, before he turned to face Will. "Hello!" He greeted him, smiling cheerfully.

"Hi," Will smiled bashfully.

"Are you the one who makes my sis so busy she can't visit me?" Owen grinned and Alicia frowned.

"Owen!" She reproached him.

Will smiled. "No, actually, that's Georgetown Law's fault, I think, since she came to it before she came to me," he smiled and Owen chuckled.

"I'll send them a warning letter, then!" Owen grinned.

"I'll help you write it, I have some complaints as well," Will smiled.

Owen grinned and turned to Alicia. "I like him," he gestured to Will and they all laughed.

"Well Owen, that's great. But how about you? How's Tommy?" She asked.

He looked at her, confused, before his eyes widened in understanding. "Oh right, Tommy! Yeah... We broke up."

"What?" Alicia asked, surprised. "When?"

Owen shrugged. "A month ago."

"Well, why didn't you tell me?!" She demanded.

Owen rolled his eyes as Will got a cart for their suitcases. "Well, I guess I didn't think it mattered that much."

"Of course it does!" Alicia said, shocked. "This is your first boyfriend we're talking about!" As Owen rolled his eyes again Alicia softened up; she sighed. "What happened?"

"He said I am unable to commit," Owen pouted.

They all started to step toward the exit and Will, while he pushed the cart with the suitcases to the exit released a chuckle. Alicia and Owen turned to stare at him, and he started to smile nervously. "I'm sorry; it's just that I lost count of how many girls said that to me... Almost every girl I dated I think."

"Except my sis, I hope," Owen smiled, amused.

"Well no. I didn't have any problem to commit to her," Will chuckled.

Alicia grinned and pecked his lips. "And you had problems to commit to others?"

Will shrugged. "I don't know. They said I did."

"See? Tom invited me to dinner and then spent most of it telling me and pretty much everyone in the restaurant, that is because he spoke so loudly, how I treated him badly. He complained for so long about how I'm not serious, and how I don't love him enough, and how I don't appreciate him enough," Owen finished with a disgusted look.

Alicia sighed. "Look, you're better off without him, but maybe it does say something about you -" Alicia started to say but Will shook his head.

"I don't think so. He just sounds needy, man," Will said shortly and Alicia gave him an irritated gaze.

"That is such a guy thing to say. Besides, it's not true; it doesn't sound that needy to me," Alicia stated.

"Oh, he is needy," Owen frowned.

"If anything, he was being a little bit dramatic," Alicia said.

"Very dramatic," Owen corrected.

"Things could've been worst!" Alicia stated and Will shook his head and smiled at her.

"You're just saying that. I bet if you were in Owen's place you'd be just as upset," Will smiled and when she shook her head he grinned playfully before he looked around them to the strangers surrounding them while they walked towards the exit. "LOVE ME!" He then yelled at her, startling Alicia, Owen, and the other 15 to 20 people surrounding them. They all stared at him, Alicia shocked.

"What are you _doing_?!" She hissed at him, her eyes wide and her cheeks turning red at the scene he was creating. Owen stared at him with a huge smile.

"LOVE ME!" Will yelled again as a pained, agonized and (in Alicia's opinion) rather fake facial expression appeared on his face, much to the amusement of the strangers around them and Owen, who was now laughing. "You don't love me ENOUGH!"

"Will!" Alicia started to use a rather more practical method and started to hit his arm, in an effort to force him to stop, but with no success; Will was not done.

"The pain you are causing my arm," he half smiled at her hitting him, but not completely, since he was too deep in his act, "is not nearly as painful as the pain you cause MY HEART!" Will declared, wiping non existing tears from his eyes.

Owen wiped very real tears from his eyes, which were formed from laughing. Even Alicia was trying hard not to laugh now. "Stop it, now!" She demanded, trying to hide her smile.

"I'm DYING here!" Will ignored her as he stated, collapsing to the floor.

Around him, people started to clap their hands. Everyone laughing hysterically, and some even threw quarters. "Holy shit, Alicia!" Owen cried, laughing. "You never told me your boyfriend was like _that_! I was scared you'll end up with a nerd! I _love him_!"

Alicia was still as red as an average tomato. "I always try to forget he can be like that," she gave in to a hearty chuckle as she turned to look at Will, who was still lying on the floor, grinning up at her. "Get up," she rolled her eyes and laughed at him.

He jumped up rather rapidly and effortlessly, cleaning his sweatshirt from some dust from the floor before he kissed her cheek. "I feel like an 'I told you so' is needed," he smirked at her.

"Well, yeah," she smiled at him, "but by Ben. He told me you're a joker and an embarrassing person to go out in public with."

"I'm offended!" Will declared, grinning, "he is not any better. Besides, I needed to make a point."

"Which is?" Alicia asked, grinning, as Will pushed the suitcases cart to the exit again, Alicia and Owen following him.

"Dramatic people are annoying and irrational," Will said simply and didn't turn around. "Look how worked-up you got just by a little scene; now picture yourself dating someone who literally acts that way on a _daily_ basis."

Alicia's eyes widened, her cheeks still a little red. "That proved nothing! I got upset because you created a scene, not because of what you said!"

Will shrugged. "Dramatic people don't care. They'll throw their shit on you, whenever, however," he said a bit bitterly.

Alicia chuckled. "How do you know so much about dramatic people?"

Will grinned and waved at some people who were still pointing at him. "I dated a few," he said quietly as they went out of the airport and walked to a cab that parked near the exit.

As they went out to the street, a shiny, August afternoon sun blinded them, placed in the middle of a bright, clear blue sky.

Will picked up the suitcases and placed them in the trunk of the cab, when Alicia and Owen got into the cab and told the driver the address of their father's house.

* * *

The drive didn't take them long, and when the taxi stopped near their father's house Alicia paid the driver and jumped out of the taxi, excited look on her face.

She looked around her at the dimmed street; in the horizon a shiny sunset was occurring, shining in all shades of red and orange. On the sidewalk, brown shades leaves were scattered in the garden-beds, fallen from the tall trees that towered above them. The houses on the street seemed awfully familiar to her; the same manicured lawns in the gardens of the houses; in some sleepy dogs lying on them, sometimes chewing a beeping toy. The houses were quite similar; lofty, white houses with crimson red tiled roofs. She stepped closer to the house number 22, a wide, sincere smile on her face. "I missed this place so much!" She exclaimed and beamed at Will and Owen. Owen chuckled and Will smiled fondly at her, feeling sudden warmth in his chest.

"You can go," he laughed softly, "I'll get the bags."

"Thanks," she grinned and ran to the house.

Owen helped Will with the bags, and when they walked into the house with the bags, they saw Alicia hugging a grey haired man, wearing a black sweatshirt and faded blue jeans, his eyes closed and his hand was softly patting Alicia's back.

Owen walked more rapidly into the house, tapping his dad's arm on his way to let him know he had arrived.

Alicia broke away from her father's embrace, smiling widely. Her dad smiled another warm smile at her before he turned his head to examine Will, who nodded and smiled nervously in his direction, as he carried the rest of the suitcases and placed them near Alicia and her dad on the doorstep.

Alicia stroked Will's arm as she smiled at her dad. "Dad, this is my boyfriend, Will Gardner," Alicia introduced the two, and Will reached out his hand and shook Alicia's dad's hand. "Will," Alicia grinned at him, "this is my dad, James Cavanaugh."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Will smiled at James, a bit of nervousness in his voice.

James smiled politely. "Nice to meet you too, Will. I heard nothing but... Great things about you," he smiled and winked at Alicia, who rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Thank you for letting us stay in your house," Will smiled and James waved his hand dismissively.

"Like I'd let my daughter stay in a lousy hotel when her father has a house in the city!" James said, eyeing Alicia, as if still upset she even thought about staying in a hotel.

Alicia chuckled and Will nodded, smiling. "Well then, thank you for letting me stay here. I really appreciate it."

James sighed. "Not a thing. Get inside, you two," he ordered. "Need help with those bags, Will?"

Will shook his head and smiled. "No, thank you sir. I got it," he smiled, picked up the bags and dragged them into the house.

* * *

They sat down to have dinner at the dining room. On the house there were three floors, separated by brownish stairs.

Will stayed with Alicia in her bedroom on the second floor; Owen's room was on the third roof floor and their dad had his room on the first floor.

Will thought that the dining room was fancy; a red, wool carpet was spread all over the floor, and a white, big dining table was placed in the middle of the room. Above it a shiny, crystal chandelier was hanged from the ceiling. There was a grey fireplace placed in the left wall, warming the surroundings with warm, red-shaded flames, and a long grey chimney continued from the fireplace up to the roof. A white little cabinet was placed near the fireplace, on it were placed framed pictures of young Alicia and Owen from different ages, laughing to the camera.

Will thought this might be the homiest dining room he ever saw, except from his parents' dining-room maybe.

They sat down and started to drink from the white china the hot, steamy tomato soup that was served to the table, and James, who observed them all, sighed. "So tomorrow you're all heading off to your mother's wedding?"

Owen looked down at his plate, and Alicia bit her lip before she nodded, cautious.

"Coming to visit your father only to go to your mother's wedding?" He asked, a small smile forming on his face as he witnessed her wide eyes.

"What?! No, dad! I would come just to visit you in any other time, and on this specific date I would come to _no one_ since school is so busy," she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Well," James chuckled, "at least I got to meet the boy you're dating!" James announced and all eyes turned to Will, who was caught a bit off guard with a spoon filled with soup in his mouth and with wide eyes from the sudden change in the conversation to him. "How are you?" James asked him, and seemed amused.

Will glanced at Alicia shortly, who shrugged at him, before he turned back to James. "I'm fine."

James smiled and turned to Owen. "Back when I just started dating your mother, her father always terrified me, your grandfather," he said and Owen chuckled. "Your mother brought me to family dinners, and her father would examine me coldly and sharply in ways that came back to haunt me in my nightmares," James described and Alicia and Owen both laughed, probably thinking of their grandfather. Will was a combination of confused and worried from how this conversation was connected to him. "So my way of cheering myself up was to picture how I'll terrify the boyfriends of my future daughters, I felt like it would be a proper closure," James grinned, laughter lines around his eyes and mouth starting to show. Owen laughed, and Will didn't know if to smile or to frown, so he turned to Alicia who grinned at him.

"You're okay," she mouthed to him, stroking his arm gently; she laughed softly when his shoulders dropped as he sighed in relief.

"Truth is, Will," James turned to Will again, who looked up at him, "if my daughter decided to bring you here, it probably means you're okay. My daughter is smart, and has a good head on her shoulders. If she brought you here, it probably means I don't get to scare you," James smiled and everyone chuckled at this, including Will.

"You can scare me a little bit if you want, sir," Will smiled at James, and when James didn't smile back, but instead gave him a frozen, cold and pissed look, Will's eyes widened in horror. "Or not," he added hurriedly as Alicia and Owen looked at their dad, confused. Their dad's frozen look changed then to a warm, grinning look.

"See? I scared you," James grinned at Will and they all laughed, Will mostly laughing out of relief. "This is going to be fun," James grinned and they all laughed again.

* * *

"Did your dad act like that to all the guys you brought here?" Will asked Alicia, his arm hugging her shoulders, his fingers caressing her arm softly as they were cuddled on her bed later that night in her room. Her room was dimmed, one lamp turned on, shedding soft, warm light on the white dresser, the purple carpet, the red bed sheets and on some of the pictures on the dresser and on the walls. Her head was on his chest, her hand holding one of his hands.

"I wouldn't know," she chuckled, "I never brought anyone else here."

Will seemed surprised. "Really? How come?"

Alicia shrugged, closing her eyes. "No one seemed important enough."

Will propped himself up on his elbows, and looked at her softly. "Even the guy you dated for a year?"

She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. "We've been sort of dating for a year too."

Will smiled. "No... We know each other for a year."

Alicia chuckled. "In our case, it's the same. Besides, I wanted to date you for a year, and I wanted to date him for a year," she smiled and he chuckled at her. "Six months are a lot too!" She stated and he laughed, pecking her lips.

"Six months?" He then asked her, laughing.

"Yes! Six months!" Alicia stated, irritation in her gaze from his disbelief.

"Three months," he corrected, chuckling.

"No!" She laughed, now propping herself up on her elbows as well, "you kissed me six months ago, two days before the tests!" She reminded him.

"I did, didn't I?" He grinned as he fell slowly back to the pillow.

"You did," she smiled at him, amused. "And here I thought it was a beautiful, meaningful memory we would both cherish in our hearts forever," she teased him, a bit of accusation in her gaze.

"What! Leesh, I got to kiss you many times afterwards," he laughed, "I don't remember every single time. I do remember the first time we had sex," he smirked at her and she smacked his shoulder softly, laughing and rolling her eyes. "It was a cold February night... It was very cold, right?" He smiled and she chuckled.

"It was only cold to you because you insisted on giving me your jacket!" She laughed.

"Well, then, at least it wasn't cold for you," he smiled and she shook her head, laughing. "We went to a movie... Something cheesy I remember," he said and she nodded. "And you kept complaining on how cheesy it was, so much that we simply left in the middle," he grinned.

"You kissed me then," she smiled, "said you wanted to do it the whole time we were there, but didn't think I would appreciate you doing that in the middle of the movie theater..."

"And I was right!" He pointed at her, smiling. "You're really not into that kind of stuff," he said and she nodded, grinning.

"This is when you insisted on giving me your jacket," she chuckled, "and when I saw how cold you were, I sort of dragged you to my apartment."

He laughed. "Things went very smooth from there," he grinned as a hesitated knock was heard on the door, and Alicia slowly pulled away from Will's embrace and went to open her room door.

Owen slowly walked in after her. "Dad sent me here to wish you good night," he said before a playful smile appeared on his face, and for the first time, while seeing that playful, familiar smile on his face, Will saw the big resemblance between Owen and his father. "Also," he smirked, "he sent me here to make sure, you know, no sex... No sex is allowed," he said and laughed.

Alicia and Will laughed, Will still seated on the bed, Alicia standing near Owen by the door. "Tell dad I'm offended he thought I'd even consider having sex here," she laughed and Will smiled.

Owen chuckled. "I'll tell him," before he walked out of the room, he peeked back, smiling, "Oh! And I would lock the door if I were you," he added, grinning.

"That's the plan!" Alicia grinned and showed him the key in her hand.

"Great then. Good night," he smiled and stepped backwards as Alicia locked the door. She then turned around to Will, grinning.

"So..." He smiled. "No sex?" He grinned playfully.

She grinned. "Yes. My dad forbids us," she teased, sitting on the bed near him.

"Well, that's too bad," he smiled at her, arching his eyebrow.

"It is. But you know, we can do other fun stuff," she grinned as he pulled her closer to him.

"Really?" He asked and she nodded slowly, biting her bottom lip in a wide smile, her eyes keeping his gaze intently. "What did you have in mind?"

She slowly moved closer to him on the bed, her hands softly cupping his face. "Let's see where we get," she grinned as she captured his lips in a passionate kiss, and they melted into it.

* * *

**June 27th, 1992**

Will woke up on an empty bed; as he looked up to the empty room he assumed Alicia got up already. He got up and pulled a clean shirt, a pair of jeans and his tooth brush. He went out of the room and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. When he was done, he went to throw the tooth brush back into his bag; in his way he smiled at a little picture on the wall that had little Alicia, Owen and their father in it; Alicia seemed 7 and Owen seemed 4; Alicia had little, shoulder-long black curls, Owen had sandy brown wavy hair, and James still had a rather brownish hair. They were all in a wide meadow, both Alicia and Owen on their father's lap, and they were all laughing. Warmth washed through Will; this seemed like such a loving, happy family.

He went down the stairs and noticed Alicia and James seated by the dining table, eating breakfast, and James read a newspaper.

"Good morning!" Alicia noticed him and smiled.

"Good morning," Will smiled and sat near Alicia by the table.

"Hi Will. Want some french toast?" James asked and gestured to a plate on the table filled with about 8 pieces of french toasts.

"Yes, thank you," Will said, grabbed a plate and started to fill it with french toasts.

"How are you?" Alicia asked Will with a smile.

"Great," he smiled before he noticed the absence of Alicia's funny little brother. "Where's Owen?" He asked as he started to eat his french toast.

James shrugged. "Still asleep. He usually sleeps late."

"No! Don't miss me too much!" A loud, laughing voice was heard from the stairs. Owen appeared then, grinning.

"Good morning," they all greeted him with a smile.

"And good morning to you! What's to eat?" He smiled as he ran and sat near his dad. He then snatched his news paper, smirking. "Oh, great! My newspaper!"

James grabbed the newspaper back and lightly hit Owen's head with it, laughing and rolling his eyes.

"Food!" Owen noticed the french toasts and grabbed the plate, taking all the french toasts from the plate. Will, Alicia and James chuckled at his behavior and smiled at him, and when he saw their gazes he pretended to be confused before his eyes widened. "Oh! I'm sorry. You want some?"

They all laughed and James patted his son on the back. "That's okay son. You keep it."

"You woke up cheerful today," Alicia chuckled at Owen.

He smiled. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be–– Oh," his face suddenly gloomed. "I just remembered," he frowned, "The wedding," he recalled, disappointed, and they all laughed.

"Well now, Owen, there is no reason to get upset. I'm sure it'll be... Nice?" James offered, smiling.

Owen rolled his eyes. "I doubt it. She is marrying a guy she met 5 months ago in Barbados."

"So it's not the most stable match... But it'll still be fine," James smiled.

"When does she want us there?" Alicia asked Owen and he checked his watch.

"She said 3 pm, and, ummm, she... She sounded very excited to be meeting you," he smiled at Will.

Will seemed surprised and Alicia seemed worried. "Great," she muttered, pursing her lips.

* * *

Will changed into his tuxedo in the bathroom, and when he went to Alicia's room he saw her in a tight, knee high, pretty red dress that really flattered her body. Her hair was pulled up in an half up do, and her lips were dark red colored. When his eyes widened she grinned at him and ran to hug him. "You look so great in your tuxedo! I'm so glad you're coming with me," she sighed into his neck.

"I look great? Have you seen yourself?" He smiled at her and she grinned. "Leesh, you're beautiful," he smiled as he leaned in to kiss her lips. She smiled against his lips before she pulled him to her, kissing him back eagerly.

The door opened, startling them, and Owen walked in and seemed amused by how they pulled away from each other rapidly. "We need to go," he chuckled at their blushed faces and went out of the room. Will was grinning as Alicia smiled and pulled his hand.

They followed Owen down the stairs, and met downstairs with James who was on the phone, ordering them a cab. Will and Owen went back upstairs to get Will and Alicia's suitcases, and when James finished the phone call, he smiled sadly to his daughter. "You're not coming back after the wedding, are you?"

She shook her head, her face sad. "Will and I will fly back to Georgetown tonight," she said quietly.

James looked up at Will and Owen dragging the suitcases together, laughing. "Will is great, I like him. He is a bit like I was at his age," James smiled and Alicia beamed at him. "You'll do great," he smiled as she stepped to hug him, James instantly wrapping her in his arms. She laid her head on his shoulder, her eyes shiny from some tears.

"I'm going to miss you, dad," she sighed, letting the tears fall on her cheeks.

"Then pick up the phone," he smiled warmly at her and kissed her forehead.

Owen and Will approached them, and Owen, noticing the tears and the sad faces, smiled. "Why so sad? You want me to bring the onion so we could cry with you?"

Will turned a bit worried when he saw Alicia's tears. James kissed her cheek one last time before he pulled away from her, smiling at Owen. Will then pulled her to him, hugging her softly; she leant on him, sighing.

"And you, little teaser," James smiled to Owen."You're coming back, right?"

"Like hell I'm staying with mom and her new husband on their wedding night," Owen muttered bitterly and James smiled before he turned to face Will.

"It was nice to meet you, Will," he shook his hand, smiling brightly.

"You too," Will grinned."It's a lovely house you got here."

"Thank you," James smiled."Take good care of my daughter when I'm not around, okay?"

Will nodded, smiling. "Always," he said and James smiled again.

"You need to go now," he smiled at the three. "You'll miss your cab."

* * *

They reached the place where the event took place, and when they got there they saw a decorated garden with white tables, on them purple decorations and red roses in vases. Around them people were running, making last minute preparations. They stood at the side, waiting to recognize someone, but it seemed that out of the 30 people that got an early invitation they knew no one.

"Kids!" A sudden voice called out, and they were surprised to notice their mother in a big, puffy white dress. "Come this way," their mother gestured to a distant cabin and ran to it, disappearing in it. They ran after her, confused as to why she was running. "I just can't risk Rick seeing me," she explained, catching her breath as they entered the cabin."It's bad luck." Owen chuckled and Alicia rolled her eyes, but they both smiled at their mother. Will smiled nervously, mostly standing behind Alicia, trying not to draw attention. "Kids!" She said again as she pulled Owen and smudged him in a tight hug. She then let go of him, as he is out of breath, and pulled Alicia to an equally tight hug. "I missed you so much!" She exclaimed, her voice cheerful.

"Hi mom," Alicia smiled and Owen raised his hand in a wave; Will looked down when Veronica stepped closer to him, grinning brightly.

"And who is this handsome young man?" She grinned and Will blushed, smiling nervously; Alicia rolled her eyes.

"Hi," he smiled and offered his hand for her to shake.

"I'm Veronica," she grinned and slapped his hand away softly, pulling him into a hug. Will was quite taken aback by it and glanced at Alicia nervously. "And you must be Will," she grinned as she pulled away from him, "the only boy who ever managed to capture Alicia's heart and get her to fall head over heels." Will grinned, happy at hearing that, and Owen chuckled.

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Mom! I never said that."

Veronica smiled. "Some things are just obvious."

"When will the ceremony start?" Alicia tried to distract her mother, and it worked.

Her mother's face brightened up. "The ceremony!" Veronica beamed and Alicia pulled Will quickly back to her, taking advantage at her mother's distracted mind. "It will start in an hour! An hour from now, and your mother will be a married woman."

"Again," Owen muttered and Alicia chuckled.

"Yes, again," Veronica said and her tone dropped, getting colder and more pissed. "When you don't find the right person the first time, you try again!"

Alicia frowned. "So our father wasn't the... Right person?! And this Rick -" Alicia started to say before Will stroked her back softly, in order to calm her down. Her shoulders dropped and she sighed, turning to step closer to Will. He pulled her closer and she sighed again, forcing a smile to her mother, who seemed upset. "Look mom, I'm sorry, you are right. You and dad... Oh, you were _so_ wrong for each other."

Veronica seemed determined to be happy on her wedding day. She smiled, her smile a little bit forced as well. "You're right! But it's okay, because out of this marriage I got the two greatest things I could have ever got: you two!" She grinned again.

"Right," Alicia leant backwards to the wall, and seemed tired.

"Look, I gotta get out there again. Owen, come with me," Veronica ordered and dragged Owen with her.

As they stepped out of the room Will hugged Alicia's back softly and kissed her bare shoulders which were shown because of the dress she wore, which had thin straps. "Aren't you cold?" He asked her softly. Alicia shook her head and closed her eyes, leaning her head on his chest. They stood like that calmly in each other's embrace for a minute, before he noticed tears falling from her eyes. "Hey... Hey. Why are you crying?" He turned her around so she'll face him, and stroked her cheek with his fingers, wiping her tears with his thumb. She shivered a bit at his touch and opened her eyes to look at him.

"Don't cry," he asked her softly, "I don't like it when... When you cry."

She smiled a teary smile. "I'm so glad you're here with me," she whispered. Will smiled at her fondly, and leaned in to kiss her lips softly. She relaxed into the kiss, the decision to tell him overcame anything else; so when he pulled away she hugged him; "I love you," she whispered into his ear.

When sudden bursts of happiness hit Will, he grinned. "I love you too," he said and kissed her again, and as he pulled away he stroked her cheek with his thumb, "and you don't need to thank me. I'm happy to be here for you," he smiled and she beamed at him, her eyes literally sparkledin the dark cabin before she hugged him closely.

Owen returned into the cabin and chuckled at them. "Okay, you love birds, come out. The ceremony is starting."

* * *

Will noticed Alicia's unhappy face throughout the whole evening; during the ceremony, during the dinner when she was forced to start conversations with her relatives and during her mom and Rick's first dance. They sat together on a bench near the dance floor, close to where the tables were placed during dinner.

He had his arm around her shoulders, and she leant on his chest; she was quiet, and her face turned to look at the dance floor. Her eyes followed the happy couple dancing, her mother's face glowing in a way she never saw before.

"Leesh?" Will asked softly; she suddenly blinked and turned to him. He assumed she was in deep thought beforehand. "You okay?" He asked her softly.

"I... Yeah. I'm just... I don't know. Everything is so... So confusing," she sighed, her face a bit pained. Will kissed her frowned forehead. Around them, couples started to join the happy couple on the dance floor. "I promise you that you will be happy on the next wedding we'll attend to together," he grinned at her, and she smiled brightly at him, cheering up immediately.

"I really do love you," she smiled.

"I do too," he smiled. "Now let me invite the prettiest girl here to join me for a dance," he smiled and got up from the bench, offering her his hand. "Have you seen your mother?" He asked jokingly, and she laughed heartily, slapping his chest softly, her eyes sparkling. "Just kidding," he smiled."Dance with me, please," he smiled and offered her his hand again. She grinned and lifted herself up with his hand, grinning brightly at him.


	4. December, 1992

Disclaimer: as usual, nothing but the plot and the OCs is mine.

Ahhhhh this story :) I _love_it, and not in a narcissistic way, I just love how much I enjoy writing it!

There is a big author note for those of you who disagree with my plotting in this chapter; I'll explain exactly why I did everything I did, because in this chapter our _beloved_ Peter Florrick is making his first, yet not last appearance. Yay?

* * *

**December 18th, 1992**

"I hate him." Will had an upset frown on his face, his brows were furrowed, his mouth pursed in a thin line.

Alicia raised a pair of surprised eyes from her notebook. "Who?"

Will closed his notebook in a slam, grabbed a small ball which was placed on the table (since it was Will's apartment, and since Will liked many kinds of sports, it wasn't too weird to find a ball nearby; there were many balls in many places in his apartment). Once he grabbed the ball he started to throw it at the wall. "Florrick. All entitled and know-it-all. Why is he sticking here anyway?" Will muttered bitterly as the ball he was throwing slammed the wall again and again.

* * *

"He first came to visit his cousin, and our professor likes him; he recognized him from the days he was a teacher in DePaul, so he asked him to work with you on your demo trial, didn't he? As some kind of test. Is that why you are so pissed?" Alicia asked him, a bit concerned.

Will shook his head and suddenly dropped the ball. He sat down on the couch and looked at her, his face a bit sad. "He keeps making these comments about you. That's why I hate him. I can't even answer him and shut him up."

"What?" Alicia was confused. "When did he meet me?"

Will looked down. "He dropped some notes once... Around 11 pm, I..." Will trailed off, cupping his face with his hands and sighing loudly. "I just don't like the guy. He seems like a guy who pretends he is your best friend until he has an opportunity to crush you on his way to get something better. He is the last person I wanted to do my demo trial with, and he is there to _test_ me for heaven's sake!"

Alicia's face was motionless. "What did he see?"

Will looked up, confused. "When?"

"When he... Dropped those notes. What did he see?" Alicia was dangerously quiet.

Will opened his mouth; then closed it, then opened it again. "It was our eight months anniversary, remember? We had a lot to drink, and he... He saw you all happy and drunk, and I'm afraid he received the wrong impression of you and of what you mean to me," he said quietly and she grimaced.

"Thinks I'm a slut?" She muttered.

Will suddenly seemed surprisingly interested in his hand. "Something like that."

Alicia seemed upset now. "Will!"

"What?" He asked, not making eye contact.

"You need to tell him I'm not like that!" She was angry now.

"Why?!" He demanded.

She stared at him in disbelief. "Because I'm not!"

"Why do you care what he thinks?" He questioned her.

Alicia seemed very angry. "I don't like anyone thinking I'm a slut, mind you."

They looked at each other for a few seconds, Will upset and Alicia angry. Will then sighed. "Look Leesh, he is the kind of guy that has lots of one night stands. He treats girls awfully, all because he is not married, and because he is successful, and he keeps calling me his buddy, saying I'm just like him, calling us 'men'. This disgusts me; his sleazy life style and the fact that he thinks I'm like that... Like him."

"Then do something about it! Tell him the truth!" Alicia snapped.

"I can't do that, Leesh! The guy is responsible for my grade! We are a month away from demo trials, and the professors are just looking for reasons to fail us. Besides, how will that play out? I go to Florrick and say, 'hey! Peter! You're a disgusting asshole and I am nothing like you! By the way, the slut you keep fantasizing on is actually my girlfriend for the past nine months! Please don't fail me though.'"

Alicia stared at him, furious. "I don't care how you do it, Will, just do!"

"No! I don't want to fail this very critical class!" Will was turning quite upset as well now.

Alicia was outraged. "What are you saying, Will?! Your damn grade is more important than my reputation?!"

Will was equally as upset. "No, what I'm saying is that demos are a month away, and I'm willing to wait that long before I punch his crappy face!"

She gathered her stuff angrily as he looked up at her, a mix of regret and pain on his face. "Where are you going?"

"I'm not going to stick around and play skank for you just to impress Florrick. I'm out of here," she muttered as she stepped firmly to the door.

"Alicia -" Will tried.

"No Will! I'm not that kind of girl! Find some other girl to play skank, or maybe... Maybe an actual skank to prove Florrick you're cool," she yelled as she went out and slammed the door shut.

Will slammed the table so hard that the coffee cups almost fell down. "Fine!"

* * *

**December 25th, 1992**

Over the next week, the word about Will and Alicia breaking up had spread around campus, and finding someone new to date was not too hard for Will. Girls kept touching his arms when they bumped him on hallways, or they would smile at him or they would slip him pieces of papers with their phone number on them.

Will didn't understand why girls were so eager to go out with him; every time he looked in the mirror every morning all he saw was his grumpy face staring back at him; not having Alicia in his life took away all the happiness he didn't notice he felt. He missed her so much that everything in his life lost its meaning; classes were torture, hanging out with friends was annoying and loud, and frankly, at that point he would prefer dating a bush than to date any girl that showed interest in him.

It seemed though as if Peter Florrick, no more no less had great interest in Will's love life, greater than the interest Will had. He seemed eager for him to date someone new, and kept setting him up with girls.

There was a red head one that Will was not able to recall her name, that during the study session kept chuckling and repeatedly touched his hair; actually, more frequently than he ever remembered Alicia touching it.

There was Nella, that on her way out kissed his cheek a bit too passionately.

And then there was Isabella, not Alicia's roommate obviously, but a very provocative girl who made questionable jokes about women and their right to work and achieve goals (when Will heard the jokes, all he could think about was that if Alicia was there to hear those jokes she would probably punch the girl in the face) and if all that wasn't enough, she _accidently_ spilled a glass of water on her shirt, which _of course_ caused her to change the shirt _near_ Will.

All meetings happened in Peter's hotel room, and in all Will was only there because he tried to work on the demo trial.

"You're a tough one, Gardner," Peter laughed at him one night while they were working on the demo trial.

Will looked up at him from his notebook and seemed confused. "I am? How?"

"In dating," Peter explained and Will felt like rolling his eyes, "I tried to set you up with at least 5 girls -"

"3," Will corrected quietly.

"- as a friend, and you did nothing with either," Peter examined him and Will shrugged.

"They weren't my type," he muttered.

Peter laughed. "How come not? They were attractive, eager to... _Have fun_," he playfully winked at him and Will forced a smile.

"Are this the kind of girls you date, Peter?" Will asked him, plain curious now.

"Well, not exactly. I won't _marry_ a girl like that. But let me tell you as a friend, I might cheat with a girl like that!" Peter grinned and Will forced another smile and started to gather his things. Every study session with Florrick was a horrible nightmare for him. If there was something he hated was to pretend to be something he was not; he always believed that you should be true to exactly who you are, and he could completely understand Alicia for being confused and mad at him for breaking his beliefs. But he had no choice; he needed to become a lawyer, he truly believed that this was his destiny.

"I'm going to go home," he said and Peter nodded.

Will turned around, and he was about to walk out when Peter spoke up. "I might date your skank."

Will turned around to face him. "My...?"

"Your skank. That curly one?" Peter didn't seem to remember her name.

"Alicia?" Will questioned him, and when Peter nodded he frowned. "She is _not_ my skank, or _a_ skank for that matter."

Peter blinked. "Well, whatever she is... I'm going to date her."

Will tried hard not to roll his eyes at the thought, but calmed himself down with knowing that Alicia would laugh in Peter's face. "Do whatever."

* * *

**December 27th, 1992**

She never fully realized how meaningful he was in her life. Even though he had hurt her, she still couldn't stop wanting him back. There were two very opposite things that stopped her from running into his arms crying at the moment: pride, and shame. She wouldn't, and shouldn't beg to have him back; nor should she need to. He made a mistake and he should be the one to apologize. But by walking away and not sitting down and solving the problem with him she broke his heart; he really had his back against the wall and she walked away[3] , she didn't sit down and try to explain how much what he did hurt her; and she also never sat down and talked to him about his working process with Peter; as it seems, it causes him great suffer.

And she knows she broke his heart; she avoided him during the first week, even though he probably wanted to apologize; and now, he gave up, and every time they meet in the hallway he gives her such a hurt and upset gaze that she wants to run to a near room and cry.

Alicia was watching TV, wearing sweats and socks when Bella approached her and grabbed the remote; she then threw a dress at Alicia. "You are coming to drinks."

Alicia frowned. "Drinks?"

"Yup. With me and Jeff," Bella said as she started to drag her from the couch.

"I don't know..." Alicia trailed off as she was pushed into her bedroom.

"It's not for you to decide," Bella grinned as she closed the door in Alicia's face.

* * *

It was 10 pm at a bar, and Alicia seemed amazingly better. Maybe it was the company of two good friends, or maybe it was the two shots of tequila, but Alicia's mood was improving fast.

Around the table where she sat people were dancing to the loud music; on the ceiling, strong neon lights shone in shades of black[4] and dark blue, and the whole club was a mix of those two colors; the tables, the chairs, the bar and even the staff's clothing.

"So... What happened between you two?" Jeff asked Alicia and the big smile which formed on her face moments beforehand started to fade. "I mean," Jeff continued, "the guy is a wreck. When he is not at Florrick's, working his ass off on his demo, he is at the apartment watching the TV screen blankly with a beer in his hand."

Bella chuckled. "Same with Alicia here."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "It's really not that important right now; this is the most fun thing I did in the past week, don't make it depressing," she smiled a bit forcibly, before she ordered another shot.

Jeff shrugged. "Fine. But I got to tell you, I think Will really liked you. I never really noticed how much he smiled when he was with you, but I definitely notice the absence of his smile now. I never saw him this upset before," Jeff said and Alicia closed her eyes and downed her drink, his words upsetting her and causing her to feel a dark pain in her chest. "This daily meetings with Peter Florrick don't help either. He is such a jackass; I can't believe he is responsible for Will's grade."

"He is not actually responsible for it, is he?" Bella asked Jeff.

Jeff grimaced. "Well, when the professor loves the guy who tests you that much, if the guy says anything bad about you, you're out," Jeff muttered bitterly and Alicia felt a sudden pinch in her heart. Was this really the situation? Did she over-judged Will? "Speaking of the ass," Jeff rolled his eyes as Peter Florrick entered the bar. Peter looked around before he noticed Alicia and started to make his way toward the table where Jeff, Bella and Alicia sat.

"Hello!" He smiled at Alicia as he reached their table.

"Hi... Do I know you?" Alicia decided to pretend as if she didn't know him; it would make it easier for her to get rid of him.

"Well, you were very drunk the first time we met, so... Maybe not," Peter smiled as Jeff and Bella seemed confused.

"Really!" She exclaimed."And where was that?"

"I..." He seemed embarrassed, as if he wasn't expecting to discuss that."At Will Gardner's place once, but! The point is, that you seemed then like you know how to have a _good time_, especially when you, well, have a drink. So what do you say I buy you one?"

Jeff and Bella stared at him in disbelief, as if shocked from the wrong impression he had on their friend, but Alicia seemed slightly amused. Will really didn't tell this guy anything about her. "Hmmm, I'm tempted, but I think I'll pass, I'm having a drink with my friends now," she said and gestured to Jeff and Bella, who nodded a bit frigidly at him.

"Well then, later! There are certainly enough drinks at the bar!" He smiled and walked away.

"Yeah, don't count on it," Alicia muttered under her breath as she watched him walk away.

* * *

An hour and more drinks later made Alicia a lot happier and made Jeff and Bella a lot sleepier.

"We are going to head back," Bella yawned as Jeff pulled out his wallet.

Alicia's eyes widened at them and she released a drunken chuckle; she had a lot to drink, and she was not acting like her usual self because of that. "No! Come on! Let's stay here a bit longer. Please!"

Bella smiled at her. "No, we are going home, and so are you."

"No! I'm staying," Alicia grinned and ordered another drink.

"Cancel that," Jeff muttered to the bartender. "Come _on_ Alicia, we brought you here, so it's our responsibility to bring you back."

"I don't wanna go!" Alicia complained, "I'm having fun!"

"Wow, she sure gets drunk easily," Jeff muttered to Bella, who chuckled a bit and reached out to grasp Alicia by the hand. But before she could, Peter Florrick appeared and sat down near Alicia on Jeff's empty chair, blocking Bella's reach with his body.

"Hello again," Peter smiled at the drunk Alicia.

"Hi!" She greeted him, her sight a bit blurry and her mind even more blurry. "Who is this?"

"The guy who is going to buy you a drink, that's who," Peter smiled, amused, and Alicia chuckled.

"Really? How nice of you!" She exclaimed and started to chuckle.

"No you're not," Bella frowned at him.

"Yes he is!" Alicia stated, grinning.

"You heard the lady," Peter smirked.

Jeff stepped closer to Peter. "What are you trying to do, man? Taking advantage of a drunk girl?!"

Peter chuckled at his unstable walking. "You seem a bit drunk yourself! Come on, _chill_. It's not like I'm going to rape her. You're okay, right Alicia?"

Alicia looked up at the mentioning of her name and nodded, chuckling. At that point, Jeff and Bella didn't have clear minds either; they thought Peter and Alicia knew each other, though if they would have had clear minds they would probably not trust his intentions that fast; but since everyone's minds were a bit off and they were all under the influence of alcohol, Jeff nodded and he and Bella stepped out of the club, rubbing their eyes tiredly.

* * *

The walk for Jeff and Bella to Jeff and Will's apartment was quick, and 10 minutes later they reached the apartment and walked in, laughing. When they walked in they saw Will, who was sitting on the couch and watched TV, grumpily, as he did most nights since him and Alicia broke up. When Jeff saw him his eyes widened. He whispered something in Bella's ear and she chuckled and kissed him on the lips before she made her way into the bedroom and closed the door behind her. Will rolled his eyes and leant backwards on the couch, gazing back at the TV. He was quite surprised when Jeff sat down near him on the couch. "Hey man?" Jeff said in a serious tone.

"Yes?" Will asked, not turning to face him, and instead he kept his gaze straight on the TV.

"Look man, when I think about it again, I made a mistake tonight," Jeff blurted out, his head pounding.

Will turned around to look at him. "What?"

Jeff sighed. "You know we took Alicia out to drinks tonight, right?"

Will's gaze softened up a bit, as a sudden frown formed in his brows. "Yes."

"She... Um, she had a lot to drink. Like a lot. I mean, so did we, but she reacts differently to alcohol... At some point my head started to hurt, and so did Bella's head but... Alicia just laughed. Wouldn't stop laughing, actually..." Jeff trailed off and then a sudden pain in his head alarmed him and caused him to frown.

Will stared at him. "And...? Is there a point?"

Jeff rubbed his pounding head with his fingers. "There is. She didn't agree to come with us, instead she stayed there and accepted a drink from Peter Florrick -"

"_What_?!" Will growled and got up from the couch immediately. He threw his coat on himself and turned to Jeff. "How could you leave her drunk with _Peter Florrick_?!"

Jeff sighed. "I'm so _off_ right now, Will... My head hurts like _shit_. Look, punch me in the face tomorrow morning, but now please go and bring Alicia back. I don't trust this guy."

Will frowned at him. "Leaving Alicia with this guy while she is drunk... That's one _bad_ judgment call."

"I know. I would deserve that punch tomorrow morning," Jeff sighed.

Will rolled his eyes and turned around. He stepped out of the apartment and closed the door after him.

* * *

When he walked down the chilly, dark and empty street, he felt unbelievably worried... And also, unbelievably guilty.

Sure, it wasn't his fault that she was alone at the bar; but it was also not so much Jeff and Bella's fault; sure, it was a bad decision, but they drank a lot of alcohol, so it was hard to say they had clear minds; if Alicia's mind would have been clearer, she would have gone with them, and if Jeff and Bella's minds would have been clearer, they would have dragged her with them. And also, it wasn't exactly their responsibility; they had each other to look after, they needed to take her out of there, as her friends, but if she insisted on staying... She was a grown up, she was entitled to her own decisions.

But all that was not why he felt guilty. Truth is, in many ways it was his fault that Alicia was now sitting in a bar, drunk, with a man who had a completely wrong idea about her.

Will inhaled deeply as he stood in front of the closed door of the bar, before he pushed the door open and walked in. He was no longer going to pretend; it was time to come clean and drive stupid Peter Florrick away from Alicia.

As he walked in, he wasn't surprised to see the place filled with drunk students from some of his classes. This was the week before the demo trials; everyone wanted to release some steam.

"Hey, Will!" Louis Brooks, a nice guy from one of Will's classes called him. He turned around and forced a smile, not really in the mood for small talk.

"Hi," he smiled and Louis grinned at him as a girl who sat near Louis chuckled and leaned on Louis' arm.

"I was wondering if you're going to show up... Your girlfriend is here, wasted, and Peter Florrick over there is trying to make a move on her!" Louis gestured with his head to the far left of the club. Will turned to look to that direction, worried, as the girl whispered something in Louis' ear. "Oh, I'm sorry, man! I didn't know you guys broke up," Louis said suddenly and Will, who was already on his way to where Peter and Alicia sat, waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it," he muttered to Louis and stepped firmly to where Peter and Alicia sat; as he stepped closer he saw that Peter had his hand around her shoulders, and had his other hand on her cheek. But that other hand started to make its way down; neither Peter nor Alicia had witnessed Will yet.

"No... No..." He heard Alicia chuckling and mouthing faded 'no's; she tried to push his hand away, but she was too weak and drunk for it. She kept chuckling and protesting. When watching that, Will felt fueled anger in his chest.

"Come on," Peter chuckled at her protests, "don't play it hard to get. I know you want it as much as I do."

When Peter pushed his hand down again, this time a bit more harshly, Will stepped forward and pushed his hand firmly away, furious. "When a girl says no... That means no," Will growled at Peter. Both Alicia and Peter looked up; Peter was alarmed at the sudden appearance of Will, and Alicia... Alicia was happy to see Will.

"Will!" Alicia noticed him and grinned widely.

Will felt a sudden pinch of guilt in his heart at seeing her happy, drunk reaction. "Hey Leesh. Come on, I'm taking you home."

Peter's eyes widened and Alicia hesitated, before she looked at Peter's hand again and nodded. "Yes. I wanna go home," she spoke in a silent tone, reaching her hand for Will to grab it. He did, and he hugged her with his arm, pulling her closer to his chest to keep her close. Her familiar scent, combined with an obvious scent of alcohol sent shivers of guilt through his body. Every single second of this evening was a big mistake.

"Will! What the hell are you doing?!" Peter asked Will, upset and confused.

Will turned to face him and gave him a cold look. "What does it seem like? I'm taking Alicia home."

"But..." Peter was confused, "you said... You said you... Oh, come on! You had your fun with her, why can't you let me have my fun with her?!"

Will stared at him, furious. "She is not a toy! We are not having fun with her in turns! She is a person, she was my girlfriend for nine months, nine great months, and she happens to be the person I care most about!"

Peter was shocked as realization started to enter his blurry, drunk mind. "She is... She is not, she is... You're_in love_ with her? She was... Your _girlfriend_?! You _never_ told me! I asked you if you're just sleeping with her, and you said _yes_! I was sure you're just..."

"What did you _expect_ me to say?!" Will snapped, outraged. Alicia near him was startled by his sudden outburst. "You are responsible for my _freaking_ grade! What, you wanted me to tell you the truth, that I think you act crappy to girls?! Fine, there, I said it!"

"_Calm down_! I didn't do anything to Alicia tonight that she didn't let me do!" Peter yelled back, angry as well.

"Don't you _dare_ blame it on her!" Will stepped closer to him, ready to punch his face if needed, but Alicia started to pull Will's arm.

"Will... I wanna go home," she spoke softly, her face pale. The sudden worry for Alicia calmed Will down almost instantly.

Peter seemed thoughtful as well, his brows furrowed in a frown. "Look Gardner, I told you many stuff this past few months, and I need you to keep it quiet; also, I need your girlfriend to not speak up about tonight. I was misguided... And that's it. I might be running for office, I don't need that in my record. I didn't know she is... She was your..."

Will turned to examine him, coldly. "Still doesn't give you an excuse to try and take advantage of her."

Peter frowned. "Look, keep all that quiet, and I won't harm your grade. Nothing is going to happen if you keep your mouth shut; there isn't really anything you can say anyway, since nothing happened tonight."

"Yeah, because I stopped you!" Will was upset.

"No! What do you think I would have _done_? Rape her?" Peter asked him, annoyed.

Alicia started to pull Will harder now. "Will, I wanna go."

He sighed. "Look, whatever. It's not up to me anyway, it's up to her. Whatever she decides to do... I'm going to back her up," he said as he turned back to Alicia and slowly held her, supporting her carefully and guiding her out of the club.

They went out to the cold street and Alicia leant closer to Will, shaking a bit. "You're cold," he noticed and took off his coat; he then covered her body with it. She snuggled into his coat and smiled at him.

"I missed you a lot... A lot a lot," she said, chuckling a bit.

Will's heart warmed up as he grinned and kissed her cheek warmly. "I'm so sorry, Alicia," he sighed as he held her again, since she almost stumbled and was not walking straight. "You are very drunk, aren't you?" He smiled at her. She nodded, her face suddenly dropping; he was alarmed by her sudden agonized face. "Leesh, what is it?" He asked her, worried.

"He tried to touch me," she mumbled softly.

"I am so sorry, Leesh... It's all my fault," he sighed as she almost fell to the floor with her unsteady walking. Will looked at her as a sudden smile appeared on his face. "Okay, that's it. I'm carrying you the rest of the way," he smiled and lifted her up with his arm. She laughed and held on to him.

* * *

**December 28th, 1992**

Alicia woke up the next morning in a familiar, empty bed. As she snuggled deeper into Will's blue bed sheets, she released a sudden outcry from the pounding, unbearable pain in her head.

She had no time to wonder deeply into how she got to Will's bed, where was Will and what happened last night, because she needed to run to the bathroom and throw up.

* * *

Will slept on the couch that night. He figured Alicia will wake up and be confused if she'll see him in a bed with her when they were currently broken up; and she probably didn't remember the events of the night before, so she would probably be very confused and suspicious.

He was eating breakfast when he heard her throwing up; he grimaced, wishing he could go in there and be supportive, soothe her and kiss her forehead; but he figured she was completely sober right now, which meant that they were still considered broken up.

Ten minutes later she stepped out of his room and seemed very unhappy. "Will?" She asked, her voice dry.

"Good morning Leesh," he smiled cautiously. "I made you some orange juice to drink with the aspirin, my mother always says it's good for hangovers."

"Well, if your mother said it... I completely trust your mother," she gave him a small smile and he grinned. Over the few times the two women met they become very fond of one another.

She went to the kitchen and drank the orange juice and the aspirin before she went back into the living room and sat near him on the couch. "What happened last night?" She asked him quietly.

He turned his head to face her. "What do you remember?" He asked her softly.

"Well..." Alicia frowned, her pounding head causing her to think more slowly. "I remember Jeff and Bella leaving... And Peter Florrick, he was there, too," she remembered before she turned pale. "I... I think he tried to touch me..." She said, her voice shaking a bit. He seemed angry, but he kept his mouth shut and nodded for her to continue. She frowned a bit before her eyes widened. "_You_ were the one who came to get me, didn't you? _That_ is why I'm here! But if you came to get me... It means you... You had to tell Florrick the truth–"

"Tell Florrick the truth? Leesh, I _yelled_ at him the truth! I would probably have hit him if I had the time, but I needed to get you back home," he sighed and she smiled at him, her pounding head suddenly not as painful as it was before.

"I can't believe you'd do that just for me," she smiled, her chest filling up with butterflies.

Will chuckled and leant backwards on to his hands. "That's silly. I'd do anything for you."

Alicia felt a pinch of excitement in her heart and she released a hearty chuckle. "You say sweet stuff like that so nonchalantly," she chuckled and he laughed. "What about your grade, though? Will he damage it?"

Will frowned. "He said he won't if you wouldn't tell what he did to you," Will started and Alicia blinked at him.

"And you told him I wouldn't tell?" She asked and felt how her good mood was slowly fading away at the thought of Will promising him such thing; she felt as if her head suddenly started to pound again.

Will chuckled. "No, of course not. I told him what I'm going to tell you: it's your decision and I'm going to back you up whatever you decide."

Alicia smiled at him, a bit relieved, before she sighed. "I'm not going to tell, for you and for your grade," she said quietly and he grinned at her.

"Or, you can tell after he gives me my grade," Will smiled and she chuckled.

"Now that's an option," she smiled and he grinned at her, his hand already stretched out to stroke her cheek softy. As she closed her eyes and enjoyed his touch, a sudden sigh escaped her mouth. "I missed you, Will."

He smiled as she opened her eyes to check for his reaction. "I missed you too. I discovered life was much less fun and exciting without you," she smiled and he continued, "I am so sorry, Leesh. It's my fault he came after you; I needed to tell him the truth, the grade is not as important as you."

Alicia shook her head. "I was selfish too. It's your grade, you are here to study the law, it makes sense you'd care about it."

Will smiled and shook his head. "My grade, or successes for that matter should never come instead of you. It's either with you or with your support, but never instead of you. I promise you, that's how it'll go from now on."

She smiled warmly at him, and then suddenly a pained facial expression appeared on her face. The pounding rhythm in her head hurt her and caused some tears to appear in her eyes; she rubbed her painful forehead, and when he saw it he moved her hand softly and kissed her forehead tenderly. "I don't want us to be broken up anymore," she whispered, her eyes closed; he nodded and kissed her cheek.

"One of the dumbest decisions we ever made," he smiled and started to kiss her neck.

"Yeah," she agreed as a sudden smile formed on her lips from his tender kisses.

* * *

**So, I had this big, long author note planned to explain why Peter acted here the way he did, but it turned out to be quite long, too long for an author note********_in my opinion_****(this was a reference to the****_in my opinion_****judge BTW :). If you disagreed with the way I portrayed him, review, and I will be more than happy to explain it to you in a pm message.****Oh, and I just feel like adding that I don't hate Peter at all, he actually can be quite nice, the way he is in season 6 for an example.**

**_(Spoiler alert to season 5 episode 15 if you didn't reach that episode yet)_**

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**_._**

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**Oh, and by the way, I got quite depressed this week when I thought sadly that because of Will's death a year and few months ago and the show continuing to possibly season 7 there are not many Willicia fans anymore. I hope it's not true! Even though he died I still feel very strongly about him and I still love Willicia with all my heart, thanks to 4 and a half great seasons. I hope I'm not alone in this!**


	5. June, 1993

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine but the plot and the OCs.

* * *

**June 29th, 1993**

Alicia was at Will's when Jeff found out about Bella.

Jeff was at Alicia and Bella's apartment with Bella, had been with her all week since she was so weak and sick. The idea, the life changing, weird, scary and even frightening idea appeared in his mind only in the third morning in a row that she woke up and ran to the bathroom immediately to throw up. He was the oldest child with 3 little brothers; he saw and _knew_ what morning sickness was.

The thought that his girlfriend might be pregnant while they were still in college and not married scared him to the core. He was completely terrified; so terrified that he disappeared while she threw up in the bathroom.

* * *

The group tried to support suffering Bella; Alicia and Will visited Bella that morning, and Ben promised to stop by later.

"How are you, honey?" Alicia asked Bella, concerned, and pulled her hair up and away from her eyes.

"A walking hell as you can see," Bella groaned and Alicia smiled softly. "Will, did Jeff meet up with you in the morning? He sort of disappeared."

Will blinked and shook his head. "Nope, haven't seen him."

Bella sighed loudly and looked down, clearly worried. Alicia turned her gaze and looked at Will. "You should look for him."

"What! No, he could be anywhere," Will groaned.

"Better start looking then," Alicia grinned and Will rolled his eyes, not amused.

"Fine. But we are still up for ice cream at 11 am, right?" He gave her his best puppy dog look, and Alicia knew better than denying Will's ice cream needs.

"Yes. Just go now," she smiled and he grinned and kissed her cheek hurriedly before he left the apartment.

* * *

Will looked everywhere for Jeff, but the guy disappeared. He wasn't in the coffee shop, in their apartment or at the movie theater; the idea to search in the park appeared in his mind after almost 2 hours of searching.

Hands in his pocket, Will examined the park, looking at every tree and every bush; he was actually not expecting to find him there, so when he detected him in the shade of a big cypress tree, lying statically on the grass with his eyes closed, he was quite surprised. It seemed as if the park hosted most of the meaningful events they experienced in Georgetown.

Will stepped closer to him and noticed an empty beer bottle in Jeff's right hand, and a plastic bag in Jeff's left. "Jeff! What the hell, man? Where have you been? You got Bella worried with your disappearance, and I've been trying to locate you for the past _two_ hours!"

Jeff didn't even bother to open his eyes; Will sat down on the grass near him when a sudden frown appeared on Jeff's face. "She is pregnant."

Will stared at him. "What?! Who?!"

Jeff finally opened his eyes to give him a cold look. "The queen of England. Who do you think?!"

Will blinked. "Bella?"

"Duh!" Jeff groaned and threw his beer bottle away, hard. It crashed into pieces on the ground few meters away.

Will looked at the broken pieces of the bottle. "Okay, better get that out of your system." When Jeff ignored him, he continued, "How do you know she is pregnant?"

"Because I have a shitty luck, that's reason one. Reason two... I've seen my mom and my father's wife pregnant 3 times; 3 times, Will! I've been around pregnant women from age 4 to age 16! I know how morning sickness look, and I know how pregnancy looks. And Bella? Bella is not sick." Will didn't have much to say and Jeff continued. "My parents messed me up, Will. 2 kids together, then each had one more separately. This situation is crappy. You don't how your parents really feel about you; if it's a bitter divorce, you worry if the parents see their ex-spouse in you. With the new families, you don't know how much they still like you and if they like their new families more... You start to get bitter... And paranoid. You don't trust anything. And I am such a hypocrite! I am doing the same! I knocked up my college girlfriend! This kid will have at least three families surely, because we were never married in the first place!"

"Then marry her."

Jeff stared at him. "What?! I can't do that."

Will shrugged. "Sure you can."

"Get serious, will you?!" Jeff growled.

"I am. Do you love her?"

Jeff shrugged. "I think so. I don't think I ever liked anyone as much... But it doesn't matter. Love doesn't last."

"Families do."

"They do, don't they?" Jeff muttered and sighed, closing his eyes again.

Will nodded. "Yup. A kid is the most official thing that can happen to a relationship. Changes the couple from two people who like each other... To a family," Will said and slowly leant down on the grass, leaning on his elbows.

"So deep, man," Jeff chuckled.

"That's me," Will grinned. "So wait," he looked up, "you're saying that you dated a girl for two years, and the thought of marrying her never crossed your mind?"

"I don't like planning the future. Life always gets in the way," Jeff sighed. They went quiet for few seconds before Jeff looked up at Will. "Why? Do you plan on doing anything with Alicia?"

Will rested his head on the grass and looked up at the sky. "We're together for a year and a half now. I don't... I don't stay with girls that long unless they're special. And she is... In every way possible... She is," Will said, his eyes set straight up at the bright, summery blue sky above.

Jeff chuckled. "Then maybe you should marry her too, man."

Will closed his eyes. "Maybe I should."

* * *

A muffled cry was heard from the closed bathroom, Will hugged Alicia's back. "Maybe we should give them some space. Let's go to my place."

"But why is Bella crying?" Alicia asked, worried.

"I'll tell you later," he spoke softly as he walked her out of the apartment.

* * *

"She is _pregnant_?!" Alicia was shocked. When Will nodded Alicia cupped her face with her hands. "I can't believe it! How will she finish Law school?! Are they going to marry each other?!"

"I do think they'll get married."

"How could this happen to them? Did they not use _protection_?" She asked and Will shrugged. "And..." She now sounded worried and Will looked up when hearing her tone, "and if it happened to them, it can happen to anyone, can it?" She looked scared.

"I don't think it'll happen to us," Will stated calmly.

"But it _could_!" She was hysterical. "I... Will, it's not that I don't want kids," she said and when he questioned her with a look she hurriedly said, "and it's not that I _do_ want kids, right now, I, ummm... I'm -"

"It's okay Leesh, I know what you meant," Will smiled at her.

"Right," she smiled briefly before the upset gaze returned. "It's not that I don't want kids, it's just that I want them in time. And planned. And born into a family."

"Wonderfully planned and organized Alicia Cavanaugh," Will smiled and kissed her cheek.

A bit of color returned into her cheek as she smiled at him. "You need to be organized with this stuff!"

"True. This is why I decided I am going to marry you eventually," he said nonchalantly.

Alicia's eyes widened to sizes she never knew possible. "Say again?"

He grinned at her. "You heard me."

She grinned widely. "Is that a proposal?"

Will chuckled. "A warning."

Alicia laughed too as she cupped his face. "Well that's great, I always like being prepared," she smiled as she kissed him, and Will was able to feel her heart beating strongly against his chest.

* * *

**Thank you for everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and to everyone who followed and favorited, it means a lot :)**

**Let me know what you think of this one!**


	6. December, 1993

Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of the cannons, or TGW, or any other thing that is not the OCs and the plot.

This chapter is dedicated to my beta reader, magapple! Thank you for all your help, you're awesome :)

I know it has been a month, but this chapter took long to write and long to type in. Please read and review!

By the way, I notice some confusion in your reviews. Just to make things clearer: this is an AU story :) Therefore - Alternate Universe in which Peter and Alicia do not get together in the Georgetown area, but instead Alicia and Will do. I read some fanfics about this, but some described their relationship as something that had slim chances to last; this is my attempt to prove otherwise. I'm trying to stay IC as possible, and by doing so I am trying to deliver my honest idea on how their relationship would look and how it will impact them.

I hope I'm doing a fairly okay job with it ;)

* * *

**December 17th, 1993**

"Finals in a month!" Alicia yelled at him.

Will opened one eye and groaned. "This is my good morning? Bringing up this crap again?"

Alicia laughed and pulled away from him, grabbing the first item of clothing she could find on the floor (a Georgetown t-shirt she was not sure it was hers or his) and putting it on.

"No one forced you to study the law," she pointed out as she smirked at him, throwing a t-shirt of him she took from the open closet.

"That is not true! A lot of people forced me," he protested.

"Really? Who?"

"Well, my mom, my dad, my debate club guide -"

Alicia rolled her eyes. "Who cares if you were forced? You love the law -"

"Oh, and my high-school girlfriend also forced me to go to law school..." He remembered with a slight smirk to Alicia's direction.

"What! Why did she care?" Alicia said, frowning a bit at his smirk.

"I don't know... Believed in all the 'happily ever after' crap. Why... Are you jealous?" He teased and she rolled her eyes at him and pulled his pillow from beneath his head.

"Now you are just plain annoying," she declared as she started to hit him with the pillow, grinning.

He tried to stop her, laughing. "Stop! Stop, I -" He was silenced when a pillow hit his face; after that she laughed and stopped, throwing the pillow away to the bed. "That's a nasty habit of yours," he noted, irritated, "hitting me with pillows. I mean, I can't hit you back."

Alicia nodded, gloating. "That's right, you can't hit me back."

Will arched an eyebrow at her. "Well, there are some other things I can do."

She grinned. "Like what?"

He pulled her closer to him and started to tickle her, grinning mischievously. "Like that," he smiled as she laughed hysterically at his touch.

"Will!" She laughed and tried to draw away from his fingers, twitching and laughing. "Will," she laughed, "stop!"

Will grinned. "Hell no! This is payback time," he grinned playfully as she was out of breath, laughing hard.

"I can't breathe!" She gasped, "I can't breathe!"

He smiled and stopped the tickling, chuckling lightly.

"You are probably the only person who can do _that_ to me and get away with that," she breathed, laughter tears still in her eyes.

Will smiled. "Well, you are the only person who can hit me and get away with that."

She chuckled. "Good. I don't want to think you are softening up," she grinned teasingly and Will arched his eyebrows and laughed.

"I'm not at all soft! At all! I am very tough and manly, mind you," he stated and she laughed, stroking his shirtless chest.

"I know. You are very manly. The manliest," she smiled and started to kiss his chest.

Will grinned. "Well, I like where this is going," he smiled and she looked up and grinned at him.

He pulled her to him, kissing her neck while his hand stroked her upper back. She closed her eyes and moaned softly. "No practicing for the test then?"

He grinned against her neck before he trailed his way up, kissing her chin before reaching her lips. "I'll practice with you for the rest of the day," he mumbled against her lips and he could feel her laughing.

* * *

They were snuggled in the bed, a bit sweaty and covered up completely with the big, puffy blanket.

He smiled down at her as his fingers stroked the side of her back. "I love you. You know that, right? Because my mom said to make sure you do, now that law school is almost over and we have our internships and everything."

She grinned up at him and kissed his palm. "I do know that. And I love you too! And I really like your mom!"

Will laughed. "I know you do... And she likes you just as much. I don't know if to be happy or worried by how much you like each other."

She grinned and kissed his lips. "Be both!" She offered him with a smile.

* * *

"Did you practice volume 3?" Alicia asked him. They sat at her kitchen table, scattered books open on the table.

He nodded. "You told me to. You said to practice the classes we don't take together before our practices."

She smiled. "Great then." She organized the pile of papers she was reading before she suddenly looked up at him. "Oh, is there anything new with the internships you applied to?"

He grimaced. "I... Yes. Nothing in New York, or LA, or _Chicago_ for that matter."

Alicia smiled nervously to him. "I'm sure something will show up."

Will smiled at her, sadly. "Like it did to you? Chicago, Leesh! And a great firm and everything. I'm so proud of you."

Alicia smiled but her smile didn't last long. "Nothing in Chicago? At all? Not one thing?" She was very upset to hear that since it meant they'll have their internships in different cities.

Will shook his head, sad. "No, nothing." As she avoided his gaze, upset, he sighed. "I got an offer from a Baltimore firm... And I think I'm going to take it," he said and she made eye contact and nodded, her face a bit sad.

"Yes, that's... That's the smart thing to do," she said and looked away, blinking tears hardly. She is not going to cry, that would help nothing.

Will noticed the tears and smiled softly at her; he cupped her face and softly stroked her cheeks, trying to catch her eyes. At feeling his touch she blinked and let the tears fall. "Don't cry," he asked her, smiling softly at her.

She sighed and stretched her arms around his neck, moving closer to him for a tight hug. he hugged her back softly, gently soothing her back with his fingers. She inched closer to his ear. "Are we going to... Break up?"

He pulled away to look into her eyes. "You want to?"

She shook her head slowly, and sat down on her chair, not breaking eye contact. "You know," she smiled, a bit of sadness in her smile, "I never thought we would break up. It felt... Unreal. It feels like we are the kind of couple who stay together forever," she said in a silent tone and watched how her words affected him; his face was suddenly pained; agonized, really. "I never believed in forever before you," she confessed. "The whole concept seemed unrealistic and dramatic... But with you it's different. Maybe it's just me, but I do believe we can make it together forever."

He breathed in deeply, the same agonized look on his face, and she watched him, a soft, concerned look on her face. He was the comforter for too long; always there when things turned even a little bit hard on her. Even though this was probably as hard on her as it was on him, if he felt as bad as she feels right now, then she wanted to help him. "I..." He started to say and swallowed hard, "I... No, I... Umm, ohh, dammit," he sighed, his voice breaking a bit. "I'm sorry Leesh, I'm breaking here and I'm not helping and..." He trailed off and she shook her head.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I want to hear you. I want to comfort you for once. Tell me," her voice was soft, her fingers gently stroking his arm.

If anything, they were great with bringing each other up and down; if he was happy, she smiled; if she was sad, his mood was instantly dropping. They were together in the same sit on the emotions rollercoaster; ten minutes beforehand, happier than ever, ten minutes later, embracing each other's pain. They shared friendship, love... And as it turned out, emotions.

He looked at her, and she almost smiled at his similarity to a sad puppy. "I don't want us to break up," his voice was barely above a whisper.

She sighed and reached her arm to stroke his cheek softly. "I don't want us to break up either, but how will we make a relationship work in two different states? We both want to work, and we both want to start right away, so there is no way!"

He sighed and looked away. "Why didn't we talk more often about it? Maybe we could have thought of something," he said, his voice a bit hoarse, a bit of pain in it.

Alicia smiled, one single tear falling from her eye. "Tried to ignore the elephant in the room?"

Will inhaled deeply before he just shook his head, determinedly. "I don't want us to break up, Alicia, I don't. Isn't there..." He tried to say as his voice broke. He breathed in again in order to calm himself down before he continued, "isn't there anything we can do?"

Will kept his gaze on her as she gazed right back to him. He felt his heart slowly breaking; ache started to wash in his chest and he wasn't aware of the fact that he was holding his breath, waiting for her to speak. He looked at her, and her eyes reflected the pain he felt at that second; the thought of losing her, of letting her go, the thought of saying goodbye to the one person he was truly and utterly happy with tore him in the inside.

Suddenly Alicia jumped from her chair, a sincere and somehow out of place smile on her face; she ran to the kitchen cabinet and pulled out all the letters. "You know," she started to say, her face suddenly glowing with shiny hope, "now that I think about it, I applied to a Baltimore firm, and I got the answer with the answer to the Chicago firm so I never really opened it," her hopeful smile was contagious, and he started to feel his heart beating strongly with hope, sending warmth to every part of his body. She dropped all the letters on the table and they both started to search for the letter.

"There," his hand was shaking a bit as he handed her the letter. It felt like ages until she finally opened it, and when she did, an undeniable smile formed on her face. "Oh my..." He sighed in relief, his head in his hand as she grinned widely, hugging him instantly.

"Bennin, Howard and Abrams," she smiled as he released the breath he was holding for the past 10 minutes. "Well, they say that they have an internship position open, and that they except an answer by January... Technically it's not January just yet, right?" She grinned at him as he laughed an easy laugh, pulling her to him and kissing her happily. They were both so relieved; their forever was still an option.

* * *

**December 24th, 1993**

Over the next week, all the third year students spent most of their time studying in groups or alone.

Will and Alicia spent most of their time studying in Alicia's apartment, which five months earlier became their apartment. Jeff and Bella got married and moved into Will and Jeff's apartment and Will and Alicia decided that it was time to try and live together.

Jeff and Bella usually studied together, alone; but Will and Alicia were always in favor of group study sessions, and today Ben was going to join them.

Ben arrived around 10 am and brought a box of little donuts; Alicia politely declined to his offer to take some, but Will took two.

After two hours of studying they were bored and desperate for a small talk.

"You know, all everyone in our class can talk about is their internships," Ben commented in a moment of silence after they finished summarizing a chapter.

Will was too busy with writing some notes to pay attention, but Alicia looked up and smiled at him. "It is. So what is your plan, Ben?"

Ben shrugged, a small smile on his face. "I didn't want to brag, especially since they went back and forth about it... But New York."

Alicia's eyes widened as Will looked up, shocked; an internship in one of the big cities like New York, LA and Chicago was extremely rare. "Way to go!" Alicia grinned at him as Will started to grin and pat his back.

"Can you get more awesome, man? New York?!" Will's grin was wide and sincere.

Ben chuckled. "I have an uncle who's an equity partner in a big firm... I talked to him and he found me something."

"Well, that's great," Alicia grinned at Ben.

Ben smiled. "Thanks. What about you two? I heard you got something in Chicago!" Ben smiled to Alicia and she nodded as Will grabbed another donut.

"I did... But I decided to go with an offer I got from a Baltimore firm instead," she smiled and Will grinned as well, still chewing his donut.

"Really? How come?"

Alicia smiled at Will, who smiled back; she then gazed back at Ben. "Seems... Seems like a nice city," she smiled as under the table Will pressed her thigh softly and grinned.

"Oh," Ben smiled, "and it has nothing to do with Will's internship in the Baltimore firm Jackson, Marks and associates?"

Alicia chuckled. "I guess that's just a great bonus," she smiled and kissed Will's cheek. She then smiled at the boys, "you know, the firm that offered me the internship? Has great people in it. First of all, Larry Howard... I admire him," she sighed in appreciation as both Will and Ben nodded in agreement.

"Also, Sam Bennin, John Abrams? Two very big names in litigation world," Ben smiled.

"You had any doubts?" Will grinned and placed his hand around Alicia's shoulders, "if Alicia applies somewhere she'll surely get the best offer possible."

Alicia grinned at her boyfriend as Ben smiled. "Well, anyway, do you know anything about Jeff and Bella's plans?"

Will nodded and Alicia looked down at her notebook and started to rewrite some of her notes. "Jeff got an offer from a Seattle office. He's taking it."

Ben nodded. "And Bella?"

Alicia looked up from her notebook. "Bella decided to give up on the law..." Alicia spoke quietly. "She will finish law school and graduate, and then she'll move to Seattle with Jeff... And they'll raise a family."

Ben seemed surprised. "No way! She is giving up on the law?"

Alicia shrugged and Will, who noticed her irritation cleared his throat. "Sorry folks, but we have 3 years of material to practice," he smiled and pressed Alicia's hand gently, smiling warmly at her. Alicia's heart started to race; the sweet smile of her boyfriend and the rather alarming reminder of the tests making her face turn a bit pale and the spark in her eyes to return.

* * *

**December 25th, 1993**

"Hey!" He tried to catch her gaze. "Hey! Come on. Leesh, where is your smile? Haven't seen it all day," Will complained softly, placing his pizza slice back on his plate. Alicia didn't answer, and instead continued to pick in her pasta, her favorite creamed pasta dish.

They were in a restaurant across the street from their apartment. They were enjoying this rare, lovely December afternoon; no rain, no strong winds either. Just cold, frozen almost silvery clouds flying peacefully above them. The absence of Alicia's smile was extremely noticeable today, at a rare, dry winter day, exactly the kind that Alicia once taught him to love.

As he looked at his girlfriend so quiet and closed in herself, he remembered an afternoon, very similar to this one two years before.

* * *

**_January 20th, 1992_**

_"Where are we going again?" Will chuckled softly. He was being pulled by Alicia and they were walking down the street on their way to a destination which was unknown to him._

_Alicia grinned widely, her eyes sparkling at him, her cheeks a bit blushed from the cold, her black curls blowing slowly in the wind. A red scarf covered her neck and she pressed a brown coat to her body to keep herself warm. __Her beauty stunned him, making him suddenly quiet, overwhelmed with deep emotions he didn't dare to speak aloud._

_She didn't notice his sudden quietness and continued to drag him while she moved her gaze to scan her surroundings. Not many people were out on the streets today since it was freezing cold. A bit of dirty snow was piled up in the corner of the street; there had been a storm a few days earlier._

_They walked rapidly and passed a steamy coffee place, filled with happy, warm people. Will, who started to lose the feeling of his fingers, kind of longed to get in, and when Alicia saw his hopeful gaze she chuckled. "Come on, we're not that far."_

_He was surprised, to say the least, when they reached the park. "The park?" He questioned her a bit grumpily, as they reached a little bench and Alicia sat down on it. "You think the park is worth getting sick for?"_

_Alicia nodded, grinning, and they looked at each other for a few seconds before Alicia looked away, gazing at the empty park._

_In that moment, he couldn't stop himself from staring at her; he wondered what her busy mind was thinking. Maybe she was thinking about an emotion, kept as a secret; maybe about a confession, waiting to slip out; maybe about a memory of a kiss, a great kiss, possibly the greatest kiss he had, shared just down this road._

_Or maybe it's all three. Her mind sure is busy enough to think about all three._

_When he finally looked away, he turned to gaze at a tall, thick, big tree; it was so tall that his branches seemed to brush the cloudy sky. As gray as the sky seemed to Will, he had to admit that everything around him, the tree, the ground, the sky seemed like the cleanest version of themselves. "What's the deal, Leesh?" He tried to look away from the tall, thick tree._

_Alicia smiled at him. "Don't you remember what happened here?" She questioned him with a smile and he went quiet._

_Does she mean... Their kiss? How can he forget?_

_"Come on, it was only a month ago," she misunderstood his silence and thought that he forgot._

_Will looked at his fingers, which started to play with his __red and gray striped scarf. His black jacket was moving slowly in the wind. "I... I thought... I didn't know you still remembered," he spoke in a hesitated tone. Truth was, she had avoided him for a few weeks after their kiss so he thought she didn't want to do anything about it. "I did remember it. I just thought you... You didn't want me__, us to... To, umm, to..." He trailed off, too nervous to complete his sentence._

_"To?" She smiled fondly at him, urging him to finish his sentence._

_Will looked up into her eyes and smiled nervously. "To become a thing."_

_Alicia's eyes smiled at him before her mouth did. Her heart ached a bit at the thought of Will being mad at himself, thinking that her avoiding him had anything to do with their kiss._

_If she had to be honest, there was a connection; but it wasn't the kiss or the action itself, but the emotion behind it. The depth of the feelings she felt for Will made her dizzy and scared to the core; she wanted him, she needed him, and more than anything, she trusted him, and that was possibly the most complicated thing._

_Alicia didn't trust a lot of people; and once she did it was so hard to let go and to deal with disappointment. Everyone disappoints you, it's a part of life, but the more you trust someone, the harder the disappointment will hit you. And the thing about Will with his respectful attitude, his gentle manners and his charming, sincere smile is that he somehow managed to break her defenses._

_Somehow, she found someone outside her family that she trusted utterly and completely; she couldn't possibly imagine a scenario in which Will would hurt her; somehow he was everything that was good and comforting. Somehow she was losing control of her future, because it was suddenly unknown and no longer depended only on her actions._

_And when they kissed she had no doubt he managed to gain her trust, a task no one outside her family succeeded before._

_Knowing that she saw two options:_

_One was to follow her instincts and to pull away; return to her comfortable mind, where everything was known and expected, and to step away from such an irrational relationship like this. Find someone else who'll be the more comfortable, emotionless choice. Because she has no doubt, if Will would ever cause her pain, that pain would break her down completely. And chances were, she would never meet someone as thoughtful, gentle and good for her as Will. If she walked away she might find the rational, sensible relationship that might suit her._

_But for the first time in her life she was choosing the second option; unknown over known, fondness over mind, feelings over thoughts, heart over head, sensibility over sense._

_With Will she was willing to let go for the first time and to let someone else lead the way._

_That took her a month to decide._

_"I want us to become a thing," she smiled at him._

_He felt his chest warming up at her sincere confession; his hand reached for her cheek before he pulled her closer and pressed his lips against hers, grinning. Their lips joined into a long, warm kiss, and even with the chilly wind on their faces they still felt great warmth washing in them._

_When he pulled away, smiling almost as bashfully as her, she chuckled; he smiled at her chuckles and waited for her to speak. "You know what always surprises me?" She asked him and he shook his head, his face still few inches away from hers. His hand continued to stroke her cheek as her mouth formed a smile. "How gentle you are with me. And cautious. And sweet. It's not a side of you that you show to many people."_

_"I try not to brag," he smiled and she laughed and kissed his cheek warmly; her __heart was racing, every inch of her body felt warmer than usual. She just made a first step on the road to losing control._

_And she loved it._

_When she pulled away a sudden burst of wind blew in their faces and made her shiver. Will saw that and pulled her closer to him on the bench to keep her warm; she leaned on him and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her._

_They sat like that in a comfortable silence before he noticed her gazing at the sky and smiling. "What are you looking at?" He asked her softly._

_She smiled and kept her gaze at the gray, silvery horizon. "It's so beautiful," she sighed in bliss._

_Will smiled. "That's interesting. I never heard anyone who said that about a gray, cloudy afternoon."_

_Alicia grinned. "I love the winter! People like the summer because it's warm and inviting, the fall because it's both warm and cold, both rain and sun, and the spring because it's filled with new, pretty flowering. They say the winter is gray and cold; while for them, summer with its warmth demonstrates happiness, winter with its coolness demonstrates sadness."_

_Will looked at her. "And you disagree?"_

_Alicia smiled, a spark lightening up in her eyes. "For me, winter demonstrates frozen beauty. All the pretty sights of the spring are forming now as we speak, and meanwhile Mother Nature cleans house," Alicia grinned and Will chuckled. "It's not gray, it's a lovely, silvery color that glows bright, and the coolness is refreshing. It's the time of the year where you can snuggle up with a warm blanket and a cup of a hot beverage and read a book. Everything is clear in the winter; every color will be its brightest, cleanest version. Blue winter sky will be the bluest and the shiniest blue sky. Winter gray will be a beautiful, silvery gray. And this?" She asked and pointed up with her hand. His eyes followed her hand as she pointed at the silvery, shiny clouds that passed peacefully above them. "This is beautiful."_

* * *

As he smiled at the beautiful memory of their experience in the park, two years earlier, his eyes turned sad as he saw how sad his girlfriend was now, compared to how happy she had been two years before. She didn't even look up at him. "Why are you so quiet?" He tried again.

She looked up from her plate and shrugged. "Stress, I guess."

"The tests?" He asked her with a knowing smile and she shrugged. "As I tell you before every test, you have no reason to worry. As always, you'll do wonderful," he smiled warmly at her; she smiled back at him, but her smile did not last long.

"It's not just that," she said. "Everyone plans out everything... And it can literally change the course of your life, the decisions you make now," she spoke slowly, as if realizing some of the things herself while talking.

"You should just calm down and try to live the moment," he smiled and chuckled softly when she rolled her eyes at him.

"I _hate _it when people say that!" She groaned and he chuckled again.

"I know you do," he smiled fondly at her, "but sometimes it's the right thing to do."

"It's _never_ the right thing to do!" She declared. "Let me tell you something. I had many friends in high school who believed in 'living the moment' and 'seizing the day' but in the end of the day it's pure crap. The very base of this belief is that you should only do things that make you happy, because you might not get to live tomorrow; therefore do crazy, stupid, dangerous things just because they make you momentarily happy, such as sky diving, not practicing for a test or ignoring the fact that actions have consequences. But, chances are, you would live tomorrow, and therefore all you did was to waste days that could have been used to work on achieving your goals. This whole method is a waste of time, you have more chances to be successful if you plan your future than if you'll live the moment and hope that something good will just randomly happen to you!"

She was upset, but he was just smiling throughout all her speech. "You're cute when you're angry," he noted, grinning widely.

Alicia stared at him. "Wow, that is so... Irrelevant. And a bit offensive."

He seemed surprised. "Offensive? How was that offensive?"

She rolled her eyes, a little smile forming on her lips. "You're not taking me seriously!"

"No! I am. Look, I know you don't like all the living in the moment crap already. What are you really upset about?" He was able to tell that all that was just a heated distraction.

She looked at him, her face suddenly worried. "We're doing the right thing, right? By choosing Baltimore?"

He had a knowing look on his face. "You mean if you are? Doing the right thing?" When she cautiously nodded at him he went quiet for a few seconds, frowning. "Maybe I'm being selfish by letting you do this," he muttered suddenly. When she saw his upset, pained, facial expression her eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't mean to be selfish..." He muttered, "it's just that I love you, Leesh. You're the single most meaningful person in my life. Ever since you made your way into my life you've been simply that."

A soft smile formed on her face, climbing it's way up to her eyes. He was looking down at his hands, so to catch his gaze she grabbed both his hands and grinned at him. "You and me? We're for the long run," she kissed his lips softly before she smiled at him again, getting happier at the sight of his smile. "And when you are a part of a decision... It can never be the wrong decision. Life without you... An unhappy effort of living. Thank you for reminding me that," she smiled softly at him and then felt her heart crumble and her knees buckling at the depth of the look he gave her back. She knew in that moment that he was _it_ for her. With him, life was a sparkly romantic dream, filled with laughter and chemistry. Without him life would lack joy, happiness and the presence of someone to truly and fully care for, and mostly would lack the knowledge that you have when you know that there is someone that no matter what would truly and fully care for you.

* * *

"You might not acknowledge it just yet, but you are going!" Alicia stated as she pushed Will toward the door.

"I am not," he laughed as his lame attempts to protest did no good. "I'm staying here and finish studying with you."

Alicia smiled as she finally got him to stand on the doorstep. "We studied enough."

"No we didn't. And I know you want me to repeat chapter 8 with you," he said as a little smile formed on his lips. "Come on, it's just beer-night."

"Exactly. It's your tradition with the guys, and I'm insisting that you go," she said, grinning.

"The guys won't mind if I skip it," he smiled at her, speaking softly.

Alicia smiled. "I'll mind! And you want to know why? Because you want to go!"

Will shook his head. "No, I don't."

Alicia chuckled. "Yes, you do. I know you; you don't fool me with stupid protests. Admit it!" She grinned at him.

Will chuckled. "Fine. I do. But you being ready for the test is much more important -"

"And I will be ready for the test," she smiled and paused for a second, "Bella is coming to practice with me."

"Way to go Leesh!" Will laughed, "have a study session with an eight months moody pregnant woman. What about her baby? Would the baby want to join too?"

"Funny!" Alicia stated a sarcastic smile on her face. "You are Mr. Funny Man today," she teased, and he shrugged, chuckling. "Well, let me tell you something, Mr. Funny," she smiled, "you are going out for drinks with your friends," she stated and pushed his chest softly and once he was out the door she closed it immediately and locked it. "End of discussion!" She yelled from behind the door.

He laughed; he sure had the greatest girlfriend in the world.

* * *

"Hey man!" Jeff noticed him and waved him to come and sit with them on the table they had just across from the bar. "How's it going?" Jeff smiled as Will high-fived Ben.

"Great," he smiled and sat down on the black, wooden chair; the black and blue neon lights combined with the strong smell of alcohol really getting him into the mood; he was glad Alicia forced him to go.

"We were just talking about how Jeff should replace his motorcycle with a big, pink my 'daddy loves me' teddy bear to match the girl he'll have," Ben grinned playfully and Will chuckled as Jeff downed his beer, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not doing that. My daughter would just have to live with the fact that her father owns a motorcycle," Jeff muttered and Will chuckled.

"That's highly inappropriate for kids, you know," Will grinned and Ben laughed.

"Shut the hell up, both of you, will you?" Jeff growled and Ben and Will laughed.

A blond, rather "creative" with the way she wore her uniform (while the place demanded their staff to wear the shirt in a way that covered the belly, she ignored that specific rule) approached the table and gave Will a flirty smile. "Would you like to order anything... Sir?" She was grinning playfully at him, pronouncing the words in a slow, flirty motion.

As both his friends chuckled, Will smiled politely and nodded. "A beer, please."

"You got it," she winked at him and stepped away from the table.

"I don't even know how you do this, it doesn't even look like you're trying," Jeff chuckled.

"Do what?" Will muttered and seemed to know exactly what he meant.

"Get them all so charmed," Jeff laughed.

Will shrugged. "I'm not doing anything. Believe me, with my current planning that's the last thing on my mind."

"Oh right! You're searching, aren't you?" Ben remembered.

Will nodded and sighed. "I am." He turned to look at Jeff. "It's so hard! How did you manage to find it?"

Jeff shrugged. "I don't know, man. You just go around to different places until you see something pretty."

"Ugh!" Will groaned, placing his head in his hands. "I'm never going to find an engagement ring that will be as valuable as I need it to be."

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Thank you to all those who reviewed the last chapter, thank you Missthirdward, guategal, Sportstar1282 and the two Guests, your reviews light up my day and give me the urge to continue.**

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**Thank you everyone! Please review, follow and favorite if you can :)**


	7. June, 1994

Disclaimer: I'm not the owner of TGW, though I'm not completely against the idea of owning Will. XD

Just kidding! No human-being is or should be the owner of another human being.

Also, the song mentioned here belongs to Nat King Cole :) Wonderful song! One of my all-time favorites!

Hey!

I decided to thank my awesome reviewers here and not in the bottom of the page this time. Thank you Sportstar1282, Missthirdward, Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest, Guest, ohdaisy and guategal; there are no words to describe how grateful I am to you, and how your reviews flatter me, help me and encourage me. I love you guys, and this chapter is dedicated to you. Thank you for taking the time to let me know how much you enjoy this story; some of your reviews are some of the kindest and the most amazing ones I've ever got. Thank you for appreciating my story so much! :)

This chapter was as always beta'd by the wonderful magapple, thank as always and you're an awesome beta reader!

* * *

**June 23th, 1994**

They were in the bedroom of their little rented apartment in Baltimore; a shiny sun brightened up the little room through their opened window. Below them, buzzing cars filled with busy people made their way to their destination, making noisy sounds.

The big, busy city.

"Hey! Guess what?" Alicia asked Will and stood up from the bed. Her face was wearing a stressful gaze, her voice very high-pitched.

Will, who was leaning backwards on the wall, his feet stretched out on the bed, chuckled. "I think I know what."

She blinked at him, frowning at his knowing smirk before her nervous gaze returned. "Graduation. That's in two days!" She emphasised and he grinned.

"I knew what."

Alicia rolled her eyes at his inertness. "You are awfully calm about this."

"And you are awfully nervous!" He chuckled."Come on, we're done! No more tests, no more paper-works–"

"Yeah, now only the real stuff to deal with!" She replayed and got even more irritated when noticing his still-amused face."Now it's just trials and clients–"

"Yeah, just the real reason why we wanted to become lawyers," he teased her with a smile.

She looked at him for a couple of seconds before she looked down to the floor, biting her bottom lip. "Yeah," she breathed and sat back on the bed, a tired gaze on her face.

At seeing that Will's smile faded a bit and he moved closer to her on the bed. He grabbed her hand and gave her a fond, sincere look. "What is it, Leesh?"

She sighed. "I don't know… Nothing, I guess. It's just that I'm a bit nervous, you know? In law school you have goals and strict rules as to what to do… And in real life there isn't really much anyone to tell you if you're doing wrong and to point you to the right thing."

"Yes there is!" Will said, his voice filled with passion."You have the people that care about you. Those who know you and can tell you that you're doing wrong and that you're not being yourself. The people that change you, the people that bring you with them to a better place. The people that with them you are willing to let go of the fear a bit, because you know that even if you close your eyes every once in a while, in your absence there would still be someone to keep an eye on the direction life takes you."

Alicia was quite taken aback when hearing his sweet words, and she gazed into his eyes for a few seconds, smiling at his passion. "You are that to me."

Will smiled and his hand slowly reached out to stroke her cheek softly, his smile widening at her beautiful features finally calm. "And you are to me."

She smiled and moved closer to kiss his cheek.

"We are that to each other," he added and she looked up, gazing into his eyes.

"That we are," she stated before a wide, fond smile brightened up her face."Thank you, Will."

* * *

**June 24h, 1994**

"Yeah, we're going to take the plane today," Will saw Alicia smiling as she pressed a phone closer to her ear, leaning on their kitchen counter.

He smiled as he grabbed an apple from their small refrigerator, not forgetting to smile at the little picture with the red pretty frame of him and her in New York; the photo was taken half a year beforehand and had Will hugging Alicia from behind, his arms making a circle around her red coat. They both loved this picture for very different reasons. He liked the picture because it reminded him of how extremely close they were that day; it was freezing cold, so she kept embracing him and snuggling into him to warm herself up, something she rarely did, and especially not in public places. She, on the other hand, claimed to like the picture because of the blue wool hat he wore in it, the one with the gigantic pompon on it.

Near the picture of their time in New York he didn't forget to notice his possibly most favorite picture. It was a black framed picture of him and Alicia's dad, James, during a hike Alicia and Will took in the spring of 1993 with Owen and James. Owen was walking behind with Alicia, and James and Will walked together before them, talking and laughing the whole time; at this picture, both Will and James were seen in big, puffy coats. The two men were turning around to smile at the photographer, Alicia, and Will was able to notice the laughter in his eyes every time he looked at this picture; maybe it was because five minutes earlier James made Will laugh like he never laughed before.

Will liked this picture because it reminded him of how impressive James was that day; with his intoxicating confidence, his rough sense of humor and his clever insights, James started to become the only man Will ever looked up to. He was over the moon when Alicia told him that day, when they both got home, that at some point in the trip her dad took her aside and told her that he expected her to stay with Will in a relationship since he was, in James' words, "A proper young man".

"Oh, of course! I miss you so much!" Alicia's voice brought Will back to the presence; he heard in Alicia's voice deep, genuine pain, and he stepped closer to her while chewing his apple. He looked at her grinning face and questioned her with a look; she did nothing but to smile mysteriously at him.

"Your dad?" He mouthed to her and she shook her head, amused.

"Yeah, he is here, and he was a lot of help, you know. I tend to be very nervous when meaningful, stressful events are a few days away and he was really great with it and calmed me down."

Will had a very strong suspicion as to who it was at that second. "Is that my mom?" He asked Alicia, annoyed, and she chuckled at his irritated face.

"Yeah, he did," Alicia smiled into the phone, grinning playfully at his frown."No, he _is_ here, and he is not too happy with us, let me tell you." She laughed at something his mother said. "Okay Helena, I'll let you talk to him now," Alicia said and smiled at Will while handing him the phone.

Will rolled his eyes at Alicia's amused grin; she kissed his cheek and walked to the living room, leaving him in the kitchen. "Hey mom."

"Willie! You should stop being so angry all the time," he could hear his mother smiling at the other line.

He rolled his eyes again. "You shouldn't talk about me with my girlfriend all the time."

"Oh... We were just... Catching up," Helena paused for a second, clearly still smiling, "I like her a lot, you know."

"I do know that, mom," a smile broke across his face, "I'm very happy you both like each other. Not that I was surprised... You are both my two favorite women in the world."

"Oh, Will..." His mother chuckled nervously for a few seconds, "you sure know how to flatter a woman."

Will smiled. "Yeah, my father taught me a few tricks."

"Speaking of that old charmer, where is he? Tommy!" Will could hear her calling his father and smiled. He grinned widely when he heard his father responding with a familiar _'yes my darling'_. When hearing his father calling his mother that way… It really brightened up his day. "Come here and speak to your son!" Helena yelled to his dad and Will could hear his father saying something unclear. He could hear both his parents laughing and Helena saying something in a very soft tone to Tommy before Tommy's voice was heard.

"Willie! How's it going?"

Will rolled his eyes for maybe the third time that day. "Great. And thanks for calling me Willie. I don't remember still being four years old."

"Oh come on Willie, don't be so heavy," his father teased.

"Yeah, okay," Will smiled."Then can I call you my 'old man'?"

Tommy laughed and Will could almost see his laughing lines around his eyes deepening with his laughter. "Sure you can, son. I mean, I am old!"

"That you are," Will chuckled.

"Don't be so smug! You are a few years from being that yourself!"

Will laughed. "How old do you think I am? I'm 24."

"Enjoy that age, son. It only comes once," Tommy said and Will stifled a chuckle.

"Dad, that's how most of the ages work."

"Are you making fun of me?" Tommy demanded, faking an angry voice, "Helena! Your son is making fun of me!"

"Make fun of him back!" Will could hear his mother yelling in the background and he laughed.

"Dad, I don't remember you being so sensitive," Will smiled.

"Well, I don't have my little man around to impress, so I can be the sensitive man that I am."

Will's eyes widened as a gigantic smile spread on his face. "Are you saying that my whole childhood is fake? You were pretending to be a manly man for me?"

"Yup. Can't believe you bought it."

Will chuckled. "Nah... Didn't believe it for real. I pretended to believe it to not hurt your pride."

"Ouch!" Tommy yelled and Will laughed.

"Yeah, I caught you crying at a National Geographic program once."

"Will, the way these animals torture each other is horrible!"

"It is," Will chuckled. "Listen, I have this thing I want to talk to you about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah... It's kind of a big deal," Will said, lowering his voice and glancing to the living room to make sure Alicia was not listening; she was reading a book, not suspecting that this conversation had anything to do with her.

"Well... You know I'd love to. Is it the kind of thing to talk about behind closed doors?"

Will glanced to the living room again, nervous. "Yes."

"Well, then first I want to say hi to my futuredaughter-in-law, and then you can tell me how you are going to propose."

Will chuckled a surprised chuckle and fell slowly to the black counter behind him, shocked. "Okay... How did you know?"

"I can read you like an open book, son," Will was literally able to hear his dad's smirk from the other side of the phone."And also, don't tell your mother things. She talks."

Will groaned, a big smile still remaining on his face. "I can't believe it... No, actually... It's not that surprising. I kind of figured she'd tell you," he smiled and his father laughed. "Were you offended that I didn't tell you?" Will teased.

"Nah, I knew you'd tell me," his father stated calmly. "Now come on! Let me say hello! It's not fair that your mother always gets to talk to her and I never do."

Will laughed, his parents' obvious approval of Alicia getting him to grin widely. "Fine, fine. Leesh?" He called Alicia and she looked up from her book. "My dad wants to talk to you," he smiled and she grinned and got up from the couch.

"Hello?" She asked as she pulled Will's hand around her shoulders."Hi Tommy!"

Will grinned at her joyful voice and pulled her closer to him, kissing her hair.

"Oh, come on!" Alicia chuckled. "That's not fair. I want _desperately_ to talk to you, but you never answer the phone!" Alicia chuckled at Tommy's answer and Will grinned at seeing how different she interacted with his mother and his father; while she was fond and friendly to his mother, who was just as fond and friendly to her, she was able to tease his father and laugh with him, the way Will and his sister did. His heart beamed with joy at the realization that after 2 years of acquaintance his parents considered Alicia as family. "Maybe you should," Alicia said to the phone and grinned at Will. "Oh, come on," Alicia chuckled and when Will noticed a fade blush on her cheeks he arched his eyebrows, chuckling an amused chuckle. "Yeah, I miss you too. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she smiled and then handed the phone back to Will. "He wants to talk to you now."

"Dad, were you flirting with my girlfriend?" He asked his dad jokingly before Alicia had the chance to walk away from the kitchen; she turned around and laughed at him, rolling her eyes.

"You have a very devoted girlfriend, Will. Not even I can break the deep feelings she has for you."

"Well, I'm happy then," Will declared happily and winked at Alicia; she laughed again and turned around back to the living room.

"So son, you wanted to discuss engagement planning?" Tommy asked.

Will smiled. "Yeah. Let me go search that book of yours in our bedroom, maybe it's there..."

"Smooth," his father teased him and he smiled an innocent smile to Alicia before he walked into their bedroom and closed the door. He sat on the bed and reached for the desk drawer.

"I believe you were the one who told me to never judge a man when he was nervous," Will reminded him as he pulled out the little ring box from the drawer; he opened it, softly smiling at the ring in it.

"I say crap," Tommy declared. "Now tell me how you're going to propose!"

"Okay!" Will chuckled, playing with the little box with his fingers. He pulled out the little ring gently, smiling at the slivery shining white gold ring, the diamond in the middle shining at him almost as shiny as the smile he hoped Alicia will give him when he propose. "Let's start with the fact that I have the most perfect ring for it."

* * *

**June 25th, 1994**

They made plans with Alicia's dad in the morning of graduation day. In this bright, cleared sky summery morning, the streets of Georgetown were filled with people.

Holding hands, Will and Alicia made their way to a little cornered coffee house. Alicia's face was calmer than how it has been all week, but Will still noticed a bit of nervousness in her features. They stopped in front of the closed doors of the coffee house, and Will turned to face her, smiling softly.

"Leesh... You feel okay?" He asked her, his voice soft; his fingers slowly reached to move a stray of hair from her cheek.

At his touch she closed her eyes, her features calming down, a small smile forming on her lips. "Yeah," she smiled."I'm going to spend my morning with you and with my dad. This is the best morning I can ask for."

"I'm glad then," Will smiled and pressed his lips to her cheek. She grinned and reached up to wrap her hands around his neck.

"Thank you, Will," she sighed into his shoulder; Will smiled and hugged her, soothing her back softly.

As they pulled away he opened the coffee house's door for her; they were immediately hit with a sweet, strong smell of coffee and apple pies. Smiling, they walked in, scanning their surroundings to find James.

"Oh, there he is," Alicia noticed James and smiled, leaving Will's side in order to reunite with her father. "Dad!" She smiled and then grinned as he got up from his chair to hug her; his glasses were placed on the tip of his nose, his dark greyish hair brushed and his handsome features, that got many girls in Alicia's high school to have a crush on him at the time were calm, proud and filled with laugh lines.

"'Licia," James smiled and pulled away, smiling at her."Look at you! So beautiful!"

"And you," she grinned."I don't remember you wearing a suit ever since you retired!"

James smiled down at his formal suit and shrugged. "Formal occasions justify formal dressing," he said before he turned to look at Will with a smile."I see your boyfriend thinks so too."

Will grinned at James and straightened his suit's tie. "I am graduating today," he smiled and stepped closer to shake James' hand.

"That you are!" James grinned, "How are you, Will?"

"Great," Will smiled."Today is the day marking the beginning of my career."

"True!" James agreed."What a healthy way to view it. I'm guessing my daughter is not sharing that point of view with you?"

"No," Will turned to glance at Alicia, amused."She is too busy being nervous."

James chuckled and turned to gaze at Alicia too, who seemed irritated with their amusement. "Thank you," she rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go to the restroom, make it easier for the two of you to talk about me." When James and Will laughed she rolled her eyes again, a small smile crossing her lips.

James and Will both sat down as she disappeared around the corner, and as James turned to examine the menu Will grabbed his bag and placed it on his lap, reaching to grab the little ring box in his fingers. He then turned to face James. "James?"

"Humm?" James was listening, but not looking up from the menu.

"Ummm... I need to, umm, talk to you about something," Will didn't mean to sound so nervous, but talking about it with James made it feel all too real.

James looked up from the menu. "Okay."

Will took a deep breath, inhaling slowly; if he couldn't say it now, he wouldn't be able to say it later. "I'm going to ask your daughter to marry me."

James' eyes brightened up immediately, and a smile, the widest smile Will ever saw him smiling formed on his lips. "You're going to propose?"

"Well, yes," Will grinned, overjoyed with James' reaction."Today, after graduation."

James breathed, a happy chuckle escaping his mouth. "Do you have a ring?"

Will nodded and held up the box he had been holding for the past five minutes; James took it from his outstretched hand. He glanced sideways before he opened it slowly, beaming at the possibly most beautiful ring he had ever seen. "Oh my... How could you afford this?"

"I took some loans... I'm not getting cheap on this one, I need everything to be perfect."

James smiled. "And tell me something Will, why would you tell that to me? You seem to have everything planned, and telling me might increase the risk of her finding out, so why?"

Will shifted in his place uncomfortably. "Ummm... It's a bit old fashioned of me..." Will started to say, nervous, but turned a bit calmer when seeing James' fond smile. "It's not as if I'm asking for your permission. If there is something I did learn from dating your daughter, is that she makes her own decisions. But I just... I appreciate you as a person, and... I wanted to make sure you are okay with... The idea."

"Will..." James started to say, before a smile broke across his face."If my daughter says 'yes', and she probably will, because, well, she loves you," James continued, and smiled fondly at the grin Will's lips formed when hearing his words."If she says 'yes', I cannot think of anyone more worthy to marry my daughter than you."

Will was beaming, the amount of happiness he felt overwhelmed him; the words he just heard meant a lot, especially coming from James Cavanaugh.

* * *

"We did it!" She jumped on him, her smile wider than ever, in her eyes shining glittery happy tears.

"Yes we did," he smiled, hugging her closely, grasping her gown with his fingers. The last half hour felt surreal; between graduating and seeing so many people he loved for possibly the last time, everything felt so strange.

Alicia sighed loudly as both her and Will watched the crowd around them; many familiar faces among total strangers. She placed her head on his shoulder and hugged him. "We are... We are no longer law students."

He smiled down at her. "Yeah. So how do you feel about that?"

She looked into his eyes and a wide smile formed on her lips. "Good. Very good. Maybe it's the relief after the storm, but I feel great."

"It's not the relief after the storm," he smiled and stroked her cheek."It's genuine excitement. Our lives begin today. This is the day where we start living."

"Oh, you are exaggerating just a bit, don't you think?" She asked, and he shrugged, smiling. He liked how she had no idea what he really meant.

He could hear her footsteps before he could hear her voice; his fifteen years old little sister had a way of letting him know she was coming before he could see her with the way she slamed her feet against the floor. "Willie!"

He turned around and surrendered to a tight hug by his little sister. "Aubrey," he breathed, smiling. "Aren't you a little too old to crash me with bear hugs? Mom says you're a moody teenager nowadays."

"Graduation comes once in a lifetime," Aubrey shrugged and pulled away from him, "and besides, I am not a moody teenager. How can I be when I play the guitar better than my older brother?"

"You do not play the guitar better than me," Will frowned in a way that was saved only to when one of his sisters annoyed him, "I taught you how to play."

Alicia smiled at Will, surprised. "Will, you play the guitar?"

"See, your girlfriend doesn't even know you play!" Aubrey smirked."You clearly haven't played in years! Oh, Alicia, hi by the way."

"Hey Aubrey," Alicia grinned at Will's little sister and stepped closer to give her a hug."How's everything going?"

"Great. Mom and Dad are strolling behind, listening to Sara's complains, and I just decided to interrupt you two while you were having a romantic moment."

Will frowned again, annoyed by his sister's smirk but Alicia chuckled heartily. "Oh, you were not interrupting, don't worry."

"Yes, she was!" Will declared immediately, ignoring Aubrey and Alicia's chuckles."Don't give her a way out, or she'll do it again."

Alicia laughed at him, amused with his childish reaction. "Stop acting like a little kid."

"She started it!" He argued and made Alicia laugh again.

"He'll be fighting with your children," Aubrey chuckled but then froze at Will's alarmed expression; the mentioning of a subject that was never discussed between him and Alicia might suggest some hidden meanings, but fortunately, Alicia's family decided to show up at this very opportune moment and so Alicia ran to them and didn't notice Will's reaction to Aubrey's words.

As Alicia ran to her family Will turned to smack his sister in the arm. "Ouch! What was that for?!" She cried.

Will rolled his eyes. "You know why," he muttered and she couldn't stop a smirk.

"Willie's going to -" She started to sing but he covered her mouth with his hands immediately, prepared.

"Sing that and you'll never be able to play the guitar again," he threatened his sister, staring into her eyes that grinned viciously at him. "I will - Ouch!" He yelped and pulled his hands away from her mouth immediately. "You bit me!"

"You bet I did," Aubrey grinned and Will would've probably continued the fight with her if it wasn't for Veronica, James, Owen and Alicia that appeared near them, grinning.

"Hey Will," James smiled at him, his hand around his daughter's shoulders.

Will looked away from his sister and smiled at James. "Hey James, long time no see."

"Yeah," James laughed, kissing his daughter's cheek; Aubrey eyed him and grinned and he rolled his eyes.

As soon as Veronica got close enough to him, she pulled him into a tight hug. "Hey Will!"

"Hi Veronica," Will smiled and hugged her back."How's everything going?"

"Oh, just wonderful," Veronica sighed, overjoyed, as she pulled away from him. "My daughter graduated on the top of her class, and soon enough so will my son!"

"That is not true, mom," Owen said immediately, "I have like 3 more years."

James chuckled and eyed his daughter. "We sent this one to college 3 years ago. Look where she is now."

Will laughed and then smiled at Owen. "Hey Owen."

"Will... You sure look good in that hideous purple gown," Owen said and then turned to grin playfully at his sister."You sure know how to pick those who pull off the purple gowns, sis."

"Don't hit on my boyfriend," she teased back, grinning.

"Okay... I'm going to stop that here," James said immediately, smiling at his children's teasing.

"That's a smart decision," Will grinned and Aubrey rolled her eyes at him, chuckling.

"Why are you so polite?" She asked him, smirking at his now annoyed expression.

He glared at her, trying to stop her from picking a fight with him in front of Alicia's family. "Don't do that, Aubrey," he empathised, extremely aware of the fact that his girlfriend's parents and brother were watching them with slight amusement.

"Will, is that your sister?" Veronica asked, turning to examine the dark-blond-haired girl.

Will sighed. "Yeah... This is Aubrey."

"How old are you?" Veronica smiled at Aubrey.

"15. My parents waited a long time before having me for some reason."

"Wanted to prepare themselves, probably," Will smirked at his sister who frowned at him.

Owen chuckled at Will. "Oh, I like this side of you... Even though you always seem so nice with my parents, I knew you must have a dark side hidden somewhere," he said, making everyone chuckle.

"Oh, you have no idea," Aubrey laughed and Will glared at her again.

"Okay, you are going," he stated and started to push his sister away.

"No... Come on, mom and dad are coming!" Aubrey protested, pointing to Will's family who stepped closer to them.

Will sighed. "Fine. Stay," he said to her before he turned to smile at Alicia's parents, "James... Veronica, I believe you haven't met my parents?"

"No, not yet," James smiled and Alicia pulled away from him as Will's mother approached them.

"Alicia!" She grinned at her, hugging her immediately.

Alicia beamed and hugged her back. "Hi, Helena!"

Will huffed. "I can't believe it. Even my own family prefers my girlfriend!"

With a sunny-yellow dress and a smile that resembled Will's so much, Helena grinned at him. "Stop complaining, you, I raised you! I got to see you more than anyone. Now it's time for me to see other people as well."

"Mom, are you breaking up with me?" Will teased and everyone laughed.

While Aubrey went to rush Tommy and Sara, Helena pulled her son into a bear hug. "I missed you, you little teaser. And I'm so proud of you for graduating Georgetown!" she said and he smiled and hugged her back.

"I missed you too," he confessed as they pulled away.

He then smiled and looked at Alicia's parents, holding his mom's hand. "Mom, these are Veronica and James, Alicia's parents; this is my mother, Helena," he introduced.

Helena stepped closer to shake Veronica's hand and then James', smiling widely. "You two raised a wonderful daughter."

"Oh, we know," Veronica smiled at James before she grinned at Alicia; Will looked at Alicia who rolled her eyes at him, her cheeks blushed and her smile wide.

"You raised a fine son yourself," James noted, winking at Will.

Helena grinned. "Yeah, as it turns out he can be a perfect gentleman," Helena said, amused, "but your daughter brought _that_ out of him... I don't remember him being like that."

Will laughed at his mother's comment before they all heard a man's voice from behind them and turned around. "That's right! And I don't care if it's true to every single parent in this place, I have a lawyer son!"

Will's eyes widened a bit as a wide smile appeared on his face. "Dad!"

"Hey Willie," Tommy smiled as the two hugged; he patted his back lovingly. "You did it, son. I'm so proud of you."

Will pulled away and beamed at his dad. "Come and meet Alicia's parents, dad."

"Oh I will," he smiled.

"Hey Tommy!" Alicia grinned and hugged him.

"Hey Alicia… How are you?" He asked her as they pulled away.

"Oh, wonderful," she chuckled, "I graduated and everything."

"Oh, yes, I know," Tommy laughed, "I am so proud of the both of you. You two will make a fine couple, managing partners together at some big firm in one of the big cities," Tommy smiled and Alicia beamed at him.

"Well, that's the hope."

Will noticed a bit of nervousness in Alicia's face now and decided that he should do the introduction again. "Dad," he smiled to his father before he turned to face Veronica and James who smiled at each other before smiling politely at Tommy."These are James and Veronica, Alicia's parents. James, Veronica, this is my father, Thomas Gardner."

"But you can call me Tommy," Tommy smiled, his light-blue eyes shining with the light that came from the sun above, his features resembling Will's features so much.

"Nice to meet you, Tommy," James smiled and shook his hand, "as I said to your wife you raised a fine young man."

Will beamed and Tommy hugged him with one arm affectionately before turning to shake Veronica's hand. "Yeah, he turned up alright."

"Okay, after ten minutes of this can we declare that the siblings were left out?" Owen complained loudly and got wide smiles from everyone.

"Exactly! I didn't even have the chance to say hello to Alicia," Sara declared and gave Will an accusing look as if it's his fault.

"Hi Sara," Alicia smiled and hugged her before she turned around to chuckle at her little brother, "everyone who doesn't know yet, this is my brother Owen."

"And those are my two sisters, Sara and Aubrey," Will gestured with his head to his sisters.

After everyone exchanged waves and smiles James turned to Will and Alicia. "So, where are we going?"

"Oh, that will be to our favorite place in Georgetown," Will smiled and Alicia chuckled, nodding.

"And where is that?" Sara asked.

Both Alicia and Will grinned. "The park!"

* * *

Alicia and Will walked in the front, hugged, as they led the way to the park.

"So... This is going well, right?" Alicia asked him as she looked back to their families chatting.

"Oh yeah," Will smiled, "our mothers seem like best friends already."

"Yeah," Alicia grinned at Veronica and Helena who laughed together loudly. "But what about our fathers?"

Will gave an unworried glance at James and Tommy who seemed in the middle of a discussion. "Oh, I wouldn't worry. My father's quite the charmer."

"Yeah, I noticed," she smiled as they both grinned at a big sign that was hanged on the fence of the park. 'Congratulation class of 1994!' "I'm going to miss this place," she sighed loudly and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Yeah," he said as a big smile formed on his face when seeing the park. Little hills, covered with green grass; benches placed every few meters with big trees towering above; a white tiled rock path that crossed the whole park. Out of every place in Georgetown, this was the place he'd miss the most. So many special moments shared here, in addition to some lazy study sessions; in a way, this place represents their Georgetown experience.

He asked their friends to come to a very specific spot in the park, and when he noticed them he grinned. "Here they are," he smiled at Ben, Jeff, Bella and their families.

"They brought Annie!" Alicia beamed and pulled away from him to run right to the place he needed her to stand. Bella grinned at her and hugged her, letting her hold their five-month-old baby. Jeff nodded to Will, giving him a thumbs up to wish him good luck.

Will froze in his place, suddenly nervous. Owen and his sisters passed him; Tommy and Helena started to walk after them, giving Will bright smiles, and as James passed near him with Veronica he patted his back. As Ben started to walk to him he noticed how everyone seemed to know that he was going to propose now; but as the big moment came he felt his heart pausing in a way he never felt before; all his body started to fill up with dread.

"Hey, how's it going?" Ben smiled at him as he reached him.

"Oh, I don't know," Will winced.

Ben chuckled a bit. "You're so pale right now."

"Yeah, I can feel it," he muttered and wiped some sweat from his forehead.

"Relax," Ben said immediately, patting his back. "You want to do this. You've been planning this for the past three months. You got us to bring our families here!"

"Yeah, only to have the three of you here for an excuse to bring _her_ here."

"Doesn't matter why. You want to do this, right?"

Will looked at him, his mouth pursed in a thin line, his cheeks pale, his brows a bit furrowed; but a definitive nod settled the case.

"Good. So do it."

"Benjamin!" Ben's parents called him.

Ben turned to look at his parents. "Look, I got to go. Take five minutes and come. She'll start looking for you if you'll take longer."

Will nodded and watched him walk away; he then grabbed his bag and pulled out the little square ring box. His speech was running through his head, along with some nerves, shyness, happiness and a thousand of other things.

He inhaled deeply and stepped closer to the buzzing crowd that was his family, his friends, their families, his girlfriend's family, and of course... Alicia.

She always knew how to stand out from a crowd. Even with the ugly gown Owen laughed about earlier, she still looked beautiful; her black curls were wild, framing her beautiful features; her eyes were calm with admiration at the little cute baby in her arms, her lips curled up in an equally calm smile.

To Will, she was breathtaking; her cute nose, her happy grin, her shiny eyes.

As he stepped closer to her, he realized how much she meant to him; how meaningful she made his life, with her laughter, her tears, her frowns; every time she glared at him, furrowing her brows; every time she gave him a bright smile with all her teeth. He will always treasure these little moments, and there was nothing he now wanted more than to watch her do that every day; watch her laugh in a white dress; watch her tear up with their little cute baby in her arms after hours of labor; watch her frown at him and their children dirtying the house with mud after returning from the backyard.

Will had a good memory, a creative imagination and some big, beautiful dreams, but what he wanted most was to make all that a reality.

When he was five steps away she noticed him, grinning at him immediately. It was good that she smiled, because her smile is the only thing that could calm him down.

And so, as he reached her and knelt down, her bright smile was the only thing he could see.

* * *

"Will!" Alicia breathed, her eyes wide. "Will, are you...?"

"Way to go Will!" Jeff shouted and clapped his hands; soon enough all the people around them joined, cheering up loudly.

Alicia looked around her to see her mother and Helena cheering up in excitement, Owen and Ben standing next to each other and clapping their hands, and it wasn't too long before her eyes located her father. James gave her a big, wide grin.

Her face was still shocked when she looked down to give him a little surprised smile; that was all he needed.

He cleared his voice. "Alicia, I don't think I need to tell you what happened here on this very spot... I remember kissing you for the first time," he smiled widely before he turned to glance at the amused crowd, "just to clear things out, we were friends before that. But the moment I kissed you, it was like... I don't know, like life finally had color. And a meaning. I had a reason to smile, a reason to laugh... A reason to study," he smiled and winked at her; that draw some laughter from the crowd, though she seemed too overwhelmed to laugh. "This seemed like the perfect place to propose marriage to you, since it's the place where everything started. So, once I found the place there was only... What to say. I thought about singing a song," he stopped and laughed at the loud protest of his sisters, his friends, and also at the very quiet protest of Alicia, who started to smile again. "Then I thought, better not," he smiled and a few people at the crowd laughed, "for two reasons really. The first one is that I want to propose you with my own words. And the second reason is, well..."

"He is a terrible singer!" One of his sisters yelled and that got everyone to laugh, even to the still overwhelmed Alicia, who released a fade chuckle before she fixed her gaze back at him, her gaze still a bit shocked.

"Exactly… My friends advised me not to drive you away, so, no singing today," he chuckled at the little amount of relief that was clear now on her face before he cleared his voice again. "Alicia... Falling in love with you was easy. Took me like... A week," he stated, grinning at her; at hearing that a soft smile played on her lips. "Getting you to date me..." He chuckled, "that was harder. Not too hard… But as expected, it took you a while to open up to me and to maybe look at me in a different light. Watching you being sad, or crying… That was possibly the hardest. Sometimes, being the cause of your tears… That nearly killed me. But I am here to state, that the easy parts and the hard parts had made us a better couple. We are who we are thanks to them, and I can't even begin to imagine how our lives will be like if we actually get to spend them together, go through everything together."

Alicia teared up a bit at his passionate words, but Will smiled and hoped that those were happy tears, caused from her shock.

"I love you. You know that. But I don't just love you. I love _the way_ I love you, and I love the way you love me. We don't just care for each other... I, well... Whenever I'm happy, I know I can tell you that and make you happy. And not just happy for me, but genuinely... Happy," he smiled at her and she nodded at him, a tear sliding down her cheek. "And, when you are sad... That immediately brings me down. Instantly. You have that affect on me... And that is why I need to stop right now and make sure that tears on your face are -"

"Happy tears," she breathed, a wide grin brightening up her face. Around them people started to smile, while Will felt over the moon.

He grinned at her. "Well good. I'm not done just yet, so maybe just a few more minutes?"

"Take all the time in the world," she chuckled, smiling a tearful smile.

Will chuckled. "Okay... So, as I was saying, we seem to share sadness, happiness and love. So I was thinking, if we're doing that, why shouldn't we share the rest of our lives together?"

He smiled at her, his smile widening at the 'ohhhhh's their relatives and friends yelled at that.

"Now, I now I promised not to sing," he started to say and laughed at the frowns of his loved ones, "and I am a guy to keep his promises. So, I'm not going to _sing _a song... But I'll read a song, one that really describes the way I feel about you. So, this is a song by Nat King Cole... It's called L.O.V.E," he said and laughed at the knowing look in Alicia's eyes. She knew this song, it was one of her favorites; he knew that when he picked the song, and that was one of the reasons he picked it. At recognizing the song her hands immediately went to her heart, a wide smile crossing her face.

"'L' is for the way you Look at me," he started to read, smiling. "'O' is for the Only one I see. 'V' is Very, very, _extraordinary_, and 'E' is Even more than anyone that you adore," he grinned at her when reading that, smiling at her beaming gaze, "and love, is all that I can give to you. Love, is more than just a game for two. Two in love can make it, take my heart and please, don't _break_ it. Love… Was made for me and you."

Around them, everyone started to clap their hands as he opened the little ring box that was sitting in his hand.

"Alicia Cavanaugh," he smiled and breathed in softly, his heart racing."Will you marry me?"

The eyes of the entire crowd turned to examine the overwhelmed Alicia; she inhaled in deeply and looked right into his eyes, tears falling on her cheeks. She wiped them away and smiled at him; at that moment she felt as if they were the only two people in the world. A nod, followed by an excited grin made his heart stop. "Yes!"

Never did a simple word mean so much.

As people around them clapped their hands again, Will beamed and put the shining ring on her finger, gently. As he stood up, she pulled him to her, happy tears falling from her eyes; she started to kiss him before he was able to say a thing.

When she kissed him, he felt it all; the depth, the happiness, all the words she wanted to say but couldn't. He stroked her back as she placed her hands behind his neck in an attempt to pull him closer; the intensity of the kiss made his stomach flip.

"Alicia," he breathed when they pulled away; he couldn't believe the amount of happiness he felt. He was going to marry the love of his life.

"Will!" She beamed, "I love you!"

When she kissed him again he deepened the kiss, wanting to feel her closer; every inch of his body was buzzing in utter excitement.

When they pulled away, they stared into each other's eyes, grinning like fools. While Will was mostly shocked at how happy she seemed, Alicia wanted to kiss every inch of his body. Waves of happiness washed over her, followed by waves of intense love; her chest was filled with strong, almost painful butterflies.

The sky seemed clearer, the sun seemed brighter. This whole scene seemed like a happy day-dream; never in her life did she expect Will to propose to her the way he did.

Will gave her a sincere, soft smile, his thumb softly wiping some tears from her cheeks. At his touch she closed her eyes, overjoyed.

"You are my one and only," she whispered to him; and the smile that brightened up his face... Cannot be described with words.


End file.
